Winter Favorites

Indoor campfire

A's Favorites:

I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for a most of the winter. It is a winter favorite by default since it is the only book I read for pleasure this winter.

This Michael Aram candle has been a nice reminder of christmas trees and pine garland. 

This Leinenkugel beer, part of a variety pack, was a welcome addition to snowy days.
Roasted vegetables is a staple for me and a recent addition of the Herbal Garden grinder from The Spice & Tea Exchange has me ready for spring. 

D's Favorites:

Loved this book, and this one

These candles (in Tarot Deck and Campfire) have kept our house properly wintery
Love Weird and Ravenous, their series for Bullett  is my favorite

This New York Times piece, thoughts on guns, violence and poverty through a review of a hip hop record
Received this ring recently and wear it daily
Cooking lots from Very Fond of Food, it reads like a close friend is showing you her favorite recipes
Earth tu Face salt scrub and Soapwalla Body Oil have kept winter dryness away

Winter was a snowy, windy and cold delight. ~A

A's Weekend, in review

After last weekend in NOLA I was glad to spend the weekend hopping from house to house visiting folks. I got to eat chocolate chocolate chip pancakes with my niece, whom I shall call MP, below.

This is her Pebbles look from the Flintstone's

I also got to see my nephew who is eating the valentine that MP sent to him. His newest drawing will soon be hung in my office at work. Getting to see the nieces and nephews was the highlight of the weekend. Seeing their parents is nice as well. Mainly because they feed me well.

Sweet Valentine! 

To cap the weekend off I joined Victor Emmanuel II which is an Italian American Beneficial society in the town where I grew up. A true rite of passage. It's a restaurant and bar. The best item on the menu is the salad with cheese. Iceberg lettuce and mozzarella cheese have never tasted so good!

D's Weekend, in review

All I really want most weekends is to share some drinks with someone I love, plenty of time to nap and run and at least one meal outside. And if I can spend a little time in the kitchen, even better. This weekend had all that and a little more!

Late night apple cake prep

Apple cake for breakfast

Tiny margarita

F Jones bar

June and Bailey, lunch entertainment

Bailey, taking Adele's Oscar win very seriously

Weekend in Review, Reunited Edition

Well! It's a bit late, but who can blame us? Because this weekend was spent together! In New Orleans! We packed as much as we could into just two days, and mostly it was wonderful to see each other, catch up, giggle and let Andrew explore a bit of the city. Snaps are below, and we're going to take the rest of the week off to settle back in. Be back on Monday! -- D and A

Hurricane and Abita, to get us started

Strollin'

The most delicious breakfast!

 

 

No powdered sugar fights for us!

The February Clean Up

I have been thinking about the apartment I call home and how to make it more cohesive. The space is great, but after a year and a half I have become a bit board with the set up.  I have also collected too many things. I have ten coffee mugs. I do not have a coffeemaker. Besides clearing things out I am also ready for some more adult furniture. Futons are great, but dream couches are better. I think Martha Stewart said that.

I decided to break the project down into 4 weekends with each week focused on a room. The first two weekends were devoted to the bathroom and kitchen respectively. The bathroom was easy to tackle. A good scrub, some new towels (in chartreuse not mint), and a more organized medicine cabinet did the trick. The kitchen was a bit more challenging because of how the space is set up. I have no counter space. I have a sink with a cabinet below that is next to an apartment sized stove. There are upper cabinets that span the sink and stove. This is the main reason I needed to donate some mugs. I need the shelf space more than I need the mugs. I am working to not add more things or make additional projects in the process as well. That has been simple with the past two rooms, but will be harder with the next two.

The Living Room and Bedroom both have large closets. These are also the two rooms that I would like to rearrange and update with some new pieces. That Marimekko fabric splurge might happen sooner rather than later. The donation box will be full after going through all the closets!

The Donation box - see ya later mugs and red colander!

Be Our Valentine!

Hey everyone! We both just wanted to take a second to say: Thank You!! Everyone seems to be digging our new format, and we are both so happy. So, thank you for the sweet feedback. It's a joy to share our pictures, reflections and recipes with you, and we look forward to doing even more in the coming months. Our weekend in review will be pretty special, you'll see on Monday!
~Andrew and Danielle

A's Weekend in Review

This weekend was a snowy wonderland. I spent most of the weekend reading and eating cheese. It seemed like a good balance to the cold and slush.

Saturday I visited friends in their new place and got to eat more cheese. They also had baked goods which provided a more well rounded meal. We also had a good time with animal plates. It was nice to see their place and design ideas. It was even better to hear their laughter! Pictures below.

Part two of four in the apartment project involved some startling revelations around Tupperware and coffee mugs - revelations to follow later this week!

Brussel Sprouts, Mozza style

Roasting Brussels Sprouts is nothing new and there are so many delicious riffs on the idea. My friend Rachel (hi!) suggests adding pecan to the lil' guys post-roasting and it's delicious! I was looking through the Mozza Cookbook in search of a side to prepare for a large meal and her recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sherry Vinaigrette and Prosciutto Bread Crumbs jumped right off the page! It's really delicious cooked her way, but it's too much for me on a weeknight. Below is my version of the dish, but a little faster.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Vinaigrette

I really love champagne vinegar in this dish, but the sherry is delicious. Really, just try out whatever vinegar you have around, or whatever you really like. I just use olive oil, but if you have any walnut oil or hazelnut oil, drizzle a little of those into the vinaigrette as well.

1 lb Brussels Sprouts, each cut in half

2 Tbl of extra virgin olive oil

Bring oven to 400 degrees. Place sprouts in baking dish, stir in olive oil. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until the sprouts are soft and some of the outer leaves are charred.  

1/4 c vinegar (see note)
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
2 pinches tarragon
1 shallot, finely chopped

Shake all the dressing ingredients up in a jar or whisk together in a bowl. Once the roasting is done, pour a few spoonfuls of dressing onto the sprouts and stir. Don't overdress them! You'll have quite a bit of dressing leftover, it's delicious on salads, steamed vegetables and just stirred into a bowl of rice or noodles. Enjoy!

D's Weekend, in review

A nice, slow weekend capped off with a cold. But, it's not all bad! Friday, Andy (not the Andrew now famous for posting on Ladder to the Stars) and I tried Capitol Grill out. If you like oysters, try it out! Andy liked what he got, but I can't actually remember what it was. Clearly, their wine selections are good. Saturday I had a massage, ran some errands and then spend the night making stir-fry with a friend and playing with make-up. More on this at some other point, but I'm pretty sure my calling lies somewhere in the process of applying lipstick or eyeliner. Ashley's wine selection is also stellar. Then, Sunday I woke up feeling fine, Andy made crepes and we walked in a drizzle to get coffee. By the time we made it back home, I was not feeling well. So, for today, it's hot tea, cough syrup and watching all of House of Cards. Whatever, to do list.

Crimson and Clover (over and over)

Sometimes, I like something so much I can't wait to share it. I've had this lipstick waiting on a Winter Favorites list for a bit now, but this morning I decided to go ahead and give it it's own post, written on my phone at my desk.

It's good. Ilia Tinted Lip Conditioner in Crimson and Clover. It looks a bit shocking-bright-tomato-red in the tube (which doesn't bother me, but might scare some), but it goes on sheer but still RED. I sometimes find that similar sheer red balms go on more berry or pink. Not this gal! I've tried a few of the Ilia shades, and loved most of them. If you're into berry shades, try Arabian Nights! I think you can pull of red lips at work, but if you're less sure, Crimson and Clover is a nice gateway.

A's Weekend, in review

My weekend was full of traveling and catching up. Saturday I spent the day in New York City. I bopped around the Central Park and Flatiron areas looking at clothes and potential apartment additions. The two images are fabrics from Marimekko that I might use for pillows. The two smaller swatches are fabrics that I already have and used for a chair recovering project and pillows.

The Marimekko store in New York was a delight. It was vibrant while not overpowering. Here is the link for there store: http://us.marimekko.com I am hoping to use the two fabrics for pillows. This will be a future apartment splurge.

 

Sunday was on the road again to see a one of my closest pair of friends They are a couple and we all caught up on life while I met the newest addition to their family.

 

His name is Ruger, Onyx is his older brother and was part of the Friday Five I did back in the day. I lived with these folks during and after college so anytime with them is ideal. I also started a February resolution which I will be making public in the coming week. It was a good for the soul kind of weekend.

D's Weekend, in review

I didn't take many photos this weekend, most of Saturday was spent in a meeting, shopping or napping with June. I did finally pick up a new pillow for our couch, with thanks to Ashley for the help! Otherwise, I experimented with a new brussel sprout recipe to share a little later this week, I finished a book and started a new one, I started to organize our growing collection of vinyl records and wrote post-birthday thank you notes. Some snaps below! - D