January Seasonal Eats

January what a crazy month, actually a REALLY long month. As most people want to start the year on a healthy kick I bought a juicer. Goal was to make me eat more vegetables. I was nervous about this juicer, I think I’ve been scared of the cleaning juicer part. I bought a Korean brand called Hurom, it’s this one. So far I really love it, super easy to use and clean. You do have to chop up your produce to smaller bits to put in the shoot, but I really don’t mind this. Be warned fibrous veg, like stems, celery, ginger you may have to stop and clean out the filter so it doesn’t block the pulp from coming out. This is a juicer problem across the board. Chopping up the veg in smaller pieces does give me a chance to take inventory and deternine my own concoctions. As most appliances come with recipe books this is a great way to get inspired on what to make. The best part is I’m eating more vegetables. Which was the goal.

We also learned that to yield one cup of juice of any kind you need A LOT of fruit and veg. We’ve been ordering from local grocery story for pick-up, trying to avoid going in the store. However, knowing I need more produce we started ordering from Misfits Market. Our first box arrived this week, we just ordered the small one. What we received and chose was the following: swiss chard, russett potatoes, sweet potatoes, jalapenos, roma tomatoes, carrots, ginger, cabbage, oranges, and pears. We’ve used just about it all for soaps, juices, and salsa. Super happy about our uptick on taking in more vegetables and fruit. My juice combos have been delicious, beets, wheat grass and pears; apples, carrots, cabbage, and ginger. You don’t need much ginger, because it turns super spicy with too much ginger. Trust me.

As for swiss chard I decided to make a Torta. My neighbor in Santa Monica made an amazing one, I searched online for a good recipe and just decided to text her and ask for hers. Of course it’s from a saved Saveur Magazine probably from the 90’s. This was very easy to make and delicious. I’m not a huge onion or feta fan, so I just put less of it in. Would be fun to maybe swap out feta for ricotta. Copy of the recipe image below along with a few of my pictures.

Small Business Love

So today we should show some love to the small businesses. I’ve grabbed a few that I simply love and want to support. During this crazy time these small business are struggling, admittedly I have mostly bought from the big box stores, but realize how much I love that small neighborhood shop or finely curated online one and not to forget etsy craftsmans. Take the time to peruse these shops and show your support.

House of Brinson let’s just say they have style and taste. Will is photographer and an incredible bartender, just watch his weekly Cocktail Hour. Susan is an amazing designer and has such good taste. They have a shop with everything from matches, to barware to iron skillets.

Urbanic this is a local favorite from my SoCal days in Venice, CA. I miss shopping at that store. Audrey curates beautiful stationary, cards and anything you can think of. This was always my go to place for cards.

Hand + Fire I dream about Sage’s beautifically crafted pottery. Sage is based in Helena, Oregon. She is so generous in sharing her process and how to make a simple mug by hand. Recently she and Josh made some amazing wood cutting boards. I’ve watched her work part-time at a restaurant and craft on the side to becoming a full time potter. Please visit her shop online and follow her on Instagram for her notices of when new work is being released.

The Pioneer Town General Store in Pioneertown, CA. Sarah is amazing, she is incredibly smart with her MBA and obviously hipper than the coolest person you can think of. Her store is a vintage gold mine, I personally have been eyeing the beautiful switch blade knives.

Foundry42 is located in Port Jervis, NY. I found this place online and last winter while driving out in the snow doing volunteer work I wanted a warm cup of coffee. This place was only 15 minutes away from where we were. Not only was the coffee amazing, but a shop full of beautiful books, decor, lotions, candles, anything you think you don’t need but fall in love with while browsing. Also they make a chocolate chip potato chip cookie, trust me, it’s delicious. Sweet and savory.

ArtisanTreeHouse is based in Los Angeles. Karena sells artistic, boho chic wares. I’m personally in love with her Chunky Chenile blankets. Long time friend who oozes talent. I’m always excited about what she’s doing next. Check back on her Etsy shop she’s choked full of talent. Visit her site for black Friday sales.

LaurieAnn Art paints to my heart. While I’m a Cali girl, living in NY, I’m New Mexico at heart. She paints beautiful desert landscapes and when she was able to travel you see her inspirations come alive in her European paintings. This weekend she’s offering 15% from her shop.

Emily Jefford I met about 7 years ago during the Alt Summit. She was passing out bookmarks with her beautiful paintings. Fast forward that many years and I have watched her evolve into this amazing artist who has collectors that buy out her art as soon as it’s gone live. She lives this truly artistic life with her husband and 3 kids. Based in South Caroline. I’m itching to buy a print of her recent work, I just can’t make my mind up on which one.

Field Trip is found in Newburgh, NY. While this is a brick and mortar store, which so far has not shuttered it’s doors. They have beautiful curated goods. A must visit in person or shop online.

No Longer Wander is found in Albuquerque, NM. I stumbled upon this store when it was right next to Little Bear Coffee. While we waited for our coffees to brew I wondered into this light filled plant room. So beautiful and hip beyond words. I can’t wait to visit my Mom again and buy up all the beautiful plants and drive them back with me to New York.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of small businesses I love. Its a few I’ve been following over the years and sprinkled in with new ones. Please support these folks who work so hard to curate beautiful things and sharing their talent with us. A little piece of which we can bring home with you.

October Seasonal Eats

October is well on it’s way and Fall is in full swing. Normally it’s all about apples, pumpkins and squash this time of year. And up here in the Hudson Valley, it’s ALL about apples. Apple ciders, the sweet chewy kind, and hard ciders, the alcoholic kind. My season eats include a few additional veg and fruit. I love pears and did a little pear comparison back in January that you might like. Kumquats, I don’t see here, but there were plentiful in California. And I’m alway itching to make myself eat more greens, so i’ll attempt to find some escarole and make something with it.

As for apples, Tantillo Farms in Gardiner is one of many orchards, it was voted top five places for the best apple cider donuts. They were warm and sugary and oh so good, barely made it home with any left over. Apple picking is all the rage up here and a great outdoor activity for the whole family, in normal times we would be all over it. Angry Orchard, who makes amazing hard ciders is up here too. This was a favorite stop for us to go try some free cider samples and sit outside near the orchards. They also sale apple cider donuts if remember correctly filled with cannoli cream. During these pandemic times they have outdoor seating only by reservation. Which is good as it limits the number of people there. We’re still not comfortable with eating out, we’re not feeling the need to make any unnecessary risks. This is a sacrifice as it’s something we both LOVE to do.

Cooking and baking at home are all good for us. Its given me a chance to try the hard recipes that I never seemed to have the patience for before this. Enjoy the month of October and let me know what you got cooking.

Art in the Making

This piece above is my Art. Have you started any new hobbies or resurrected dormant ones during quarantine? I’m mildly startled that the word quarantine just feels so normal to say now.

Each week I make small doodles or drawings in my bullet journal which has evolved from when I first started. It always give me great pleasure to see what I come up with each week. Recently in talking to two friends on separate occasions I realized we all were creating Art. So I scheduled us a Zoom session this past Saturday and we spent over 2 hours chatting, painting, even a bit of silence, like we were all in the same room. This is our “therapy” session and so delightful to be with likeminded friends.

I so dearly miss my weekly ceramic sessions in the Central Valley of Cali. It pains me not to be able to get on a wheel or create something by hand and see the process of firing the clay and watching what color my glaze will really turn out to be. My future studio has now expanded in my mind once again. It will have all these area’s Photography, Art (think messy easel, paint spattered concrete floors) and Ceramics. This is going to be a big studio filled with light filled windows. Well in my mind it will be.

I just bought a stack of watercolor postcards which I can’t wait to start a new series I have in my mind. We shall see what transpires in the coming months.

Baking Bread

Have you tried baking bread and it was just always a brick? That’s been my past experience. Like everyone else stuck at home since March I tried my hand at baking bread. I started with something easy. A recipe from PBS of all places. On a sidetrack I’m OBSESSED with PBS. I use this app the most on my Apple TV. How did I NOT know there were recipes too?

It’s called no Knead Bread and it’s the easiest thing ever. You can make this as long as your yeast isn’t expired or you even have yeast. Apparent yeast was another COVID phenomenom of items hoarded or a result of a low supply chain, it was right up there with toilet paper and flour missing from the shelves.

PBS No Knead Bread

I did try my hand many times at making sourdough bread. It’s the starter, it’s just to much for my mind to remember to feed everyday and then every week. Perhaps if I got a pet maybe i’d be more scheduled and remember this. The one time I did make great starter my bread turned out flat and dense. So I at the moment I’ve once again given up on that. One day I’ll get it right, just not today.

Fresh from the oven, cooled slightly so when you slice it crunches and slathered with butter, it really doesn’t get any better than that. You can do it, it’s about to turn colder, we hope for you in Cali really soon. Temperatures on the East Coast are still a bit warm, but it’s changing, and I can’t wait to bake through my second Winter in New York

Fall Seeds and Raised Garden Bed

I bought Fall seeds for planting! Who am I? Either i’m going to make this work or I just fell in love with the romance of growing flowers. Floret Flowers has exploded as a flower business. They have been featured in Martha Stewart and are about to be on Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Network. September 1 was the Fall seed sale. I jumped at the chance of being able to grow even one of these beautiful flowers. Above is what I bought, Anemones, Ranunculus, Poppies and Peonies. I am so excited.

If you have followed me on Instagram and my stories you’ll know this Summer I decide to build a raised garden bed. It has been a goal to build for the past 5 years. What are you to do with all this time you have at home and limited food shopping. I needed to get outside. We have a little garden in the back of the place we rent. I labored hard on that garden bed, with help from Rob. There are just things you need two people to do, chicken wire is one of them. He helped me get to the finish line.

Over several days before work, I spent early mornings and evenings when it was the coolest (its HUMID in NY) putting it together. Here’s how it turned out. I couldn’t be prouder.

While building it I conducted a Instagram Story poll on whether I should paint it black or keep in natural. I always thought natural was the way to go, but i wanted it to blend in with my current yard and fence. So while the poll taken said to keep in natural, I went with my inspirations from Pinterest and stained it black. Super happy about that decision. I also spent weeks researching how to build this and keep all the critters out that I’ve watch in the past year from my window.

Here are all the sources I referenced for building this box and the costs to complete it. Please note for the wood I chose Cedar, which is more expensive, but should be able to handle the elements of nature. With the exception of the cover, that was Pine. We’ll see how that holds up over a NY Winter. Costs do not include plants, especially as some were gifted to me.

It was a true labor of love:

Raised Garden Bed Tutorial

Easy DIY Garden Bed Cover Tutorial

Costs

Wood for Box $127.81

Wood for Cover $16.66

Screws $12.98

Chicken Wire $27.02

Valspar Tinted Stain $33.49

Paint Brush $13.48

Plastic drop cloth $3.38

Soil Delivery $155.00

TOTAL $389.92

Ceramics 101

Ceramics 101. One thing I always wanted to do is learn how to throw pottery on a wheel. While I have a cousin who has been doing this for years and I've managed to confiscate a few of his pieces I never gave it a spin myself, pun intended.  

Oh I've looked into classes when I lived down in LA but for some reason never committed. I think the traffic always deterred me. I was just so happy being in my little apartment box, away from the craziness outside.  Well I really don't have that excuse anymore and thru a recommendation I found a class at the local community college which is less than 5 minutes away. I also recruited some of my new friends. I found ladies as excited and willing to jump right in and spin.

I started in October 2016 and took a little break between classes and restarted in January 2017. I am addicted. Admittedly taking the break has made me feel like I have to start all over again on the wheel.  But this time around I have things in mind I want to created. At first it was all about making as many things and trying all the glazes. See the image above at all I made in 8 weeks.

This time I am being more purposeful. Taking my time while still trying new techniques.  There are so many inspiring people in class, on Pinterest and Instagram that spur me on. I confess i watch the spinning on wheel videos on IG over and over again. I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to all things ceramics, take a look, there is so much talent out there.

What inspires you? Any classes, hobbies your interested in? Love to hear from anyone.

Mindless Monday: Orange Dreamsicles

It's Hot. I'm done with the heat, are you SoCal peeps? Is it raining in your region of the world? Can you send some of it our way, we so need rain here. The humidity bodes well for a rainy winter, so hopefully that really happens.

This weekend was beyond hot. and hardly anyone has air conditioning on the Westside, they all think we get ocean breezes. Uhmm no, I'm 10 blocks away, with multiple buildings blocking my breeze. Seriously SB and I couldn't wait to get into our car just to put the AC on. Getting ready for a meeting or going out to eat was miserable, dripping sweat and make-up is no bueno.

Something had to be done so I decided to make yogurt popsicles. Did your mom ever make these for you growing up, mine did all the time. I have to tap her brain for what she put into them. However for me the questions was, "what did i have in my refrigerator?" Yogurt, check. Left over sweet condensed milk, from my last popsicle trial, check. Oranges and lemons, check. I decide I wanted an Orange Dreamsicle. This was the easiest recipe EVER.

2 cups yogurt (I used Vanilla, next time maybe i'd try Greek plain yogurt)

1/3 cup sweet condensed milk

Zest of one Orange

Mix and pour into your popsicle molds and freeze overnight. Seriously the mixture was so good I was dreaming about these till the next day when I could eat them and I almost ate them for breakfast, I mean it's the equivalent of orange juice, right? These were easy to make and a welcome little treat. Too bad today I'm starting a 2 week NO SUGAR kick. How will I ever make this happen! Happy Monday.

Lamp Makeover

In our attempt at redoing our bedroom, I was able to afford one lamp, it's on my side of the bed, and of course SB says "why do you get the new lamp." So I decided to pimp his lamp, so he got a new old lamp, same difference.

With spray paint cans in hand I went to town. I have to say this one wasn't easy. I had a hard time getting the tape perfectly around the lamp, who knew. As you can see there are flaws and had to spray several coats on it since the paint dripped and wasn't adhering to the old glaze. I tried sanding it down with a steel wool, but that didn't even help much. So it's not perfect, but I have to say it looks really nice. We bought a new white lampshade from Target and all was complete.

Who said taping a concave lamp was easy

Before it was not bad, but with the new WHITE room it really needed a little facelift

Dresser Makeover

Have you ever admired a piece of furniture that someone else owned? Well I admired this dresser that my friend Michelle had. A tall dresser with various drawer sizes, this was a departure from the dressers I had growing up. She had her things displayed just right. Well she moved to Texas 10+ years ago and I gladly bought this piece of furniture from her. It fits in my small room, where my King size bed takes over the WHOLE space. After 10+ years I wanted an update. I struggled with whether to sale it, buy something brand new, or makeover a piece of cheap Ikea furniture. Budgets came in and inspiration hit me here. I couldn't afford a new chair or sofa in that amazing green couch, nor did I have room for such a thing, so I drew from that color and the rest of the dresser and room fell in place. I am incredibly happy with the result and now I can say I LOVE this piece of furniture. I'm addicted to this makeover, looking around the house for what else I can pimp!!

Here's what I did and what products I used.

Step 1: Empty all drawers and remove all the hardware.

Step 2: Sand off old paint or stain. I did a light sand as it wasn't a thick stain on the wood. Afterward make sure you wipe the dresser and drawers clean, you don't want any dust or sanding on the drawers before you prime them.

Step 3: I used Benjamin Moore - Primer and painted all the drawers and the dresser. Let this thoroughly dry before the next step. My take two coats.

Step 4: I used Benjamin Moore - Amazon Moss (2037-10) color in Eggshell finish. I matched this as closely as I could to the green couch in the inspiration image. I probably painted up to three coats, you may need more or less depending on the piece of furniture.

Step 5: After the paint thoroughly dries, you might need a few days, then apply an acrylic polyurethane to seal the paint. I did this as an after-thought, and only after I made a few scratches in the top of the dresser (yes I had to sand and repaint), I knew I had to fix this. So I used Benjamin Moore - Stays Clear Acrylic Polyurethane.

Step 6: Spray paint your hardware, a can of spray paint is so much cheaper than buying 13 new knobs. I used Krylon - Metalic Gold Spray Paint. Again I'm addicted, I ended spray painting some old picture frames in Gold after starting this project.

That's it. This literally only took me two to three days and made such a huge difference in our room.

Before it was dark and sad in my autumn maple painted room.

Sanding the drawers before priming is key.

Prime all the drawers and the dresser

My living room and balcony in the process of painting the dresser and making over the bedroom

Spray paint old hardware to give it a great facelift

Final product. Dresser looks so much better and if it had feelings it would be super HAPPY!

Grapefruit Gin Martini

Poor me had to taste test Grapefruit Gin Martini's.  This little concoction and these gift tags are featured on Tiny Prints blog today. Go check it out.

Mindless Monday

Are you craving Margarita's today? I think many of you are. I tried to make one the other day. I'm not a huge tequila fan these days, but this was a tasty way to use a seasonal ingredient like blood oranges. With that said, Megan from the blog The House Wife In Training Files does it right. Look at her amazing images and recipes here, I found her on Pinterest and had to try this refreshing cocktail. Whatever you are drinking, personally I'm still on my second cup of coffee, enjoy your week!

Double Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

What to make for dessert when you are having an Italian appetizer party? Biscotti of course. I wanted something simple and not messy that people could walk around with. Although, admittedly biscotti does generate a lot of crumbs, but oh well. I had made biscotti forever ago, but it was a basic recipe, white flour with almonds. This time I wanted chocolate and lots of it. Its funny when I thought about making the biscotti I thought of my friends Dad who also happens to be my neighbor. We've had plenty of meals with their family and I've always seen him dip his biscotti in Prosecco or wine of any kind. So I made sure we had that Prosecco on hand for the party since he and his wife were attending. He did not disappoint. 

Here's how I made them.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, I used Valhrona

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped (I buy raw ones and roast them in a cast iron skillet. After they cool i rub as much of the skin off as I can, but you can leave it on if you'd like)

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a cookie sheet.

In a bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until combined. Stir in flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Stir in chopped hazelnuts and dark chocolate chips.

On prepared baking sheet, you might want to flour your hands, form dough into two slightly flattened logs, each 12 inches long and 2 inches wide. I find that longer thinner logs is the way to go, that way when you get to the slicing part you have smaller biscotti cookies, but that's entirely up to you.  Bake logs about 35 minutes, or until slightly firm to the touch. Cool biscotti on baking sheet 5 minutes.

On a cutting board cut biscotti diagonally into 3/4-inch slices. Arrange biscotti on baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Cool biscotti on a rack. You can keep them in an airtight container for 1 week and frozen, 1 month. I like my biscotti crunching and hard so I baked them slightly longer, no more than a total of 20 minutes.

Final task was packaging and sending them on their way. I'm loving these new gift tags from Tiny Prints, which I personalized, actually I'm kind of addicted to them. My friends loved the little packages of goodies and a few friends will get them in the mail with the recipe on my new note pad (seen above) which incidentally looks perfect with the biscotti.

Candied Grapefruit Peels

Candied grapefruit, doesn't that just sound delectable. Well in my quest to make a refreshing cocktail, I thought about what would I garnish it with. Since the major citrus ingredient in my cocktail was grapefruit, why not use the peels for something extra sweet and special.

I've made candied orange peels here before, so I new it wasn't too hard to do, just a little time consuming. So here's how:

Ingredients

2 large red or pink grapefruits

1 cup of sugar, plus extra for tossing the peels in

Cut peel from grapefruits into strips or small triangle pieces, you can leave about 1/4 of the  white pith. Place the peels in a small saucepan, add cold water to cover over them. Bring water to a boil, then drain; you will need to repeat this process twice.

After you've done the above twice, bring the peel, 1 cup sugar, and ½ cup water to a boil in same saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until peel is translucent, 15–20 minutes. Drain and then transfer peel to a wire rack and let dry, 2–4 hours. Toss in more sugar. (See above for what they look like once they have been boiled in the sugar and after they have been tossed in the sugar)

These are great as garnishes to a drink. I might dip a few in chocolate next, because everything taste better in chocolate.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

So a while back I made these Chocolate Peanut Butter bars for a book swapping party here. Since then I've made them a few more times and am now getting to a place where I'm perfecting the recipe. Plus I had a good excuse this week as I was commissioned to create these for a photo style shoot my friend Deb was doing with VivaVantage paper towels.

Seriously Chocolate AND Peanut Butter, I think this probably goes down as my favorite flavor combo. It's like making sure you have two things that match, makes me think of this quote from the movie Friday when Chris Tucker is looking for something to eat, "No sugar? Y'all ain't never got two things that match. Either y'all got Kool-aid, no sugar. Peanut butter, no jelly. Ham, no burger." And now we can add "peanut butter no chocolate." Accept we have BOTH. Here's the recipe with a few of my notes on what I have found that works best and a note on what I 'll do the next time around. And don't be afraid that it's 3 layers, it's really not that hard to make.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients Bottom Layer

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (I use Valhrona)

1 egg, beaten

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup coarsely crush pretzels (I find the thinner salted versions work better than the thick ones - I only had the thick ones for the shoot above, but that's my lesson learned)

Directions

If you have a double boiler use that to melt the butter, sugar and cocoa.  I use a metal bowl over a lightly simmering pot of water (water should not touch the bowl).

While bowl is still over the water, add the beaten egg a little at a time until the mixtures thickens.

Remove bowl from the heat and add the graham cracker crumbs and crushed pretzels. After they are well mixed press the crumbs into a flattened layer an 8x8 cake pan. I use square non-stick baking pan and line it with two pieces of parchment paper crisscross, this makes it easier to get the bars out of the pan for cutting the squares.  Set this aside while you start the middle layer.

Middle Layer Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled.

2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifting this first is good to get any clumps out.

1 cup smooth, natural peanut butter (no salt added) I like Laura Scudder's.

1/2 tsp salt (only use if you bought unsalted PB, otherwise adjust to taste.

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Add peanut butter and melted butter together in a small bowl, mix in sugar, salt and vanilla until it forms a thick paste. Now it's time to add the peanut butter over the bottom layer of chocolate pretzel goodness. I have thought about doubling the peanut butter layer as I'd like a bit more thickness, so I might try that next time. Now put all of this in the refrigerator while you make the final Top layer. This way the peanut butter has time to get a little stiff, otherwise it's hard to spread the final chocolate layer on top.

Top Layer Ingredients

5 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips (I love bittersweet or just straight dark chocolate bars for this layer, but use any fine chocolate you like)

1 tbsp unsalted butter

Pink Himalayan salt (or any fine sea salt)

Directions

Again if you have a double boiler use that to melt the chocolate and butter.  I use a metal bowl over a lightly simmering pot of water (water should not touch the bowl). Stir until smooth.

Now take the pan from the refrigerator and pour the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter layer and spread it evenly. Then return to the refrigerator about 10 minutes. (top should be a little soft still). Sprinkle light with the Himalayan salt and return the the fridge and let it completely cool until it becomes hard.

Take out the parchment papered bars and cut into squares or rectangles. I've done both and wrapped them in paper with twine for a special presentation, but it's faster to just cut in and eat it, sooooo good. I have a batch in my fridge now that I keep gnawing at, enjoy this perfect match of flavors.

Tuscan Vegetable Stew

So I'm giving props to SB, because he's a great cook and made this amazing Tuscan Vegetable Stew last week. He may one day make a written appearance on this here space, though I doubt he'll commit to a fully in-focus image of himself, but one can always hope. For now we'll show his cooking creations.

Last week, while we actually HAD weather, drizzling rain and colder Cali temperatures he decided to make a stew. This recipe was from a March 2013 issue of Bon Appetit it's called Italian Vegetable Stew.  The only change we made is adding in Spicy Italian Chicken Sausages from Whole Foods (SB doesn't eat pork or beef, so this is a great alternative). We wanted a little more flavor and meat in our stew, however on it's own this stew would still be really flavorful. We removed the casing from the sausage, roughly chop them into bit size pieces, then brown them in the pot your using for the stew (one day that pot will be a Le Creuset or Staub, for now we use All-Clad). Remove the sausage and start in on the rest of veggies as specified in the recipe in the link above. Once all the ingredients are stewing we added the sausage back in and let them cook a little more and fully flavor the stew.

The Bon Appetit recipe is from Brandon Jew of Bar Agricole. Ironically I tried to go to Bar Agricole when I was last in San Francisco, but got there too early and it wasn't open. But if this recipe is any indication of his food there, I'm am going to make sure I stop in next time we visit San Francisco. Enjoy this stew on a cold afternoon.

DTLA Street Art

Driving around DTLA in the Arts District the other day I had to stop and jump out of the car. I really love street art. I've painted before, but only on small size canvases. I think the idea of having a HUGE canvas and freedom to scrawl, create, imagine anything you want is pretty awesome. Here's one of the murals I saw and just loved.

2013 Retrospect

This year I feel like I've grown so much, I think the ALT Summit really kicked it off in January. What an inspiring 3 days with such supportive bloggers. I was inspired and it really pushed me this year. I'm excited to go back next month and see where it takes me in 2014. While I am certainly looking forward below are a few of my favorite projects this past year.

Meeting Kei & Molly. Their story and work was really inspiring to pursue what you love.

Hosting our Fall Tasting. This idea was spurred on by a class I took with Bing and AltSummit. It was an online class and well it gave me this idea, which Felicia and Deborah were on board with.  I think we'll be doing this again soon.

Part of this was hosting a Coffee Tasting, this was super fun and great working with Stumptown Coffee, I can't wait till the next one.

I finally got to write about some of my Italian adventures from forever ago here.

I loved my weekly visits to the Santa Monica Farmers Market and was inspired to make new things just by what was in season.

Oh and this Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Cake....wow I love this cake.

I loved this trip this year to California Lake Country. I am so in for doing this again. Was a beautiful place to visit.

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies got a lot of mileage on Pinterest this year.

I had a great time learning to make Candied Orange Peels, I can't wait to try this with a few other citrus fruits.

Seriously I am almost finished with the Cuba tale. This is one of my favorite posts, Cuba a Bittersweet Tale, on this trip, because it was all about my Dad. I still cry when I read it, so does he.

Those are a few of my favorite things from 2013. I'm looking forward to new adventures next year and hope to check off a few things from my goals list. Enjoy!

Hostess Gifts

What do you take to the Host when you are invited over for dinner or to a party? With my friends I usually ask what can I bring, as in do you need anything for the meal. And of course I always volunteer to bring dessert. It's important for me to know what your making and I hope the host sticks to their meal plan. i.e. Recently I was told the meal would be Mexican, so I made a Tres Leches cake, when I got there they'd made Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and green beans. In that case an apple or pumpkin pie might have been a better choice.

Ok enough of the pot luck way of bringing a host a gift. Let's talk other types of gifts. In the past I've brought wine and flowers. I know, so not creative. Wine or any kind of liquor is good, since it can be consumed at the event. However flowers, unless they are already cut and in a vase can be a mess. Who, as a host, wants to stop the flow of the party or cooking or whatever to find a vase and trim the stems. So if you go that route, make it pre-cut flowers in a vase or a potted plant.

But how about something different. Maybe a pair of vintage whiskey glasses like 1. Madison Avenue Whiskey Glasses who doesn't want a great glass for the Old Fashioned Cocktail you will consume. For the cook, how about 7. pot holders or 2. tea towels (Kei & Molly of course). Handmade gifts would also be ideal maybe some 6.  Coconut Vanilla Body Butter or 4. Rosemary Infused Salt.

I love these 3. Pop-Print Measuring Spoons from Anthropologie, I own them myself and use them all the time, if the host is a baker they'd adore these. Of course anything coffee and I'm all in. Maybe the 8. Chemex this is such a pretty way to make coffee, or if your feeling extra generous the 5. Journeyman Stumptown Coffee Kit.

Whatever you decide to give, always remember "there is more happiness in giving then there is in receiving." So do it out of love and thoughtfulness. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins + Cream Cheese Frosting

Can you just stand all this delicious food and recipe's we've been serving you this week.

Now who doesn't like cream cheese frosting and pumpkin muffins? Don't tell me if you do. These were some tasty morsels made for our Fall tasting. I was there the night before the event while she was making these. The whole house smelled amazing and her kids kept asking to eat them. Always a good sign. So hop on over to Deborah's blog to read about how to make these pumpkin cream cheese goodies at My Life at Playtime.

Enjoy! #mylifesimplysweet