November Favorites

Sunrise, Thanksgiving Day

I disappeared for awhile, to unpack, see friends and celebrate Thanksgiving with A's family. I also got sick. But I'm back, mostly. Some of A's family is still in town, but all the festivities are done and it's slowly back to the real world. Or, rather, the real world of the holidays. This year, I'm loving the chilly weather, long nights, and putting the fireplace to use. Here are some favorite things from November!

Reading: The Night Circus My sweet friend Ashley let me borrow this and it's been fantastic. I already can't wait for the eventual movie.
Wearing: This zip-front sweater, in Grey. It's a glorified sweatshirt. The softest sweatshirt ever. Clearly we're in no danger of this becoming a fashion blog.
Eating: Spicy Roasted Broccoli with Almonds from The Sprouted Kitchen. I made this as a side for one of the meals we shared with A's family this past week. And I then proceeded to eat it for the next three days. So good!
Seeing: The Mississippi Museum of Art has some pretty great exhibitions right now, I visited earlier this month and enjoyed it so much. Also, the Palette Cafe serves bangin' Cuban Black Bean Soup.
Hearing: A History of the World in 100 Objects audiobook. Such an interesting listen! I'm still not done with it, I think I'm going to save the second half for our holiday road trips.

Unpacking. Sort of.

When you pack and move and then unpack with another person, you learn so much about them. For example, A is the kind of guy who works for hours on a task until it's completed. I'm the kind of gal who is easily distracted. That's a nice way of saying "I'd rather do almost anything than unpack."

But, we're getting it done! I mean, mostly, A is getting it done. But I'm helping. I'm also watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix. Are you? Why not? Oh, you already watched it? Good.

Magic Sauce

No new photos of the house yet, we've been busy! But, I have some photos I took before the move (and at other people's houses and events) that I'll share.

Magic Sauce, cooking

 I made this sauce recently, and it's amazingly simple and good. I like to stir it into veggies, or put a little in rice. I also use it in eggs sometimes. The key is to not overdo it, it's basically a flavored oil so a little will go a very long way. I keep it in a cruet so it's easy to just use a few drops. Heidi also suggests you use it as a cooking medium. I haven't tried that, but I'm sure it'd be great!

Lemon juice!

Bowl of black beans and quinoa topped with an egg and Magic Sauce

*These photos remind me that I now live in a place with way more natural light. I'll show you soon!

Morning Routines

Over the past year I've tried to develop a morning routine for myself that helps me kick off the day feeling comfortable and calm. That was laughably impossible when I was in school, but now that I'm not I think it's been nice to get into a different groove.

Morning fog

Anderson works nights (only 3 nights a week, and he's off the rest of the week), so once he comes home June follows him to the bedroom to sleep at his feet. That means Bailey is the only woofer around in the mornings, and she soaks up lots of love. Now that it's cooling off, we leave our windows open and she watches all morning long.

Bailey's day gazing

I drink coffee or tea, read a book or a magazine and eat some breakfast. In the warmer months it's iced coffee, fresh fruit or a veggie omelet. Now that it's cooling down, it's tea or hot coffee, steel cut oats or some kind of an egg. (never just Skittles)

Such a good book, very necessary coffee

All in all, mornings have slowly become my favorite part of the day. Like pushing reset on my brain and getting ready for whatever comes.

Moving

We're moving today! To a house! With lots of windows, hardwood floors and plenty of space for us and our sweet woofers. I've scheduled some random posts for next week since I have no idea when our internet is being set-up, and new photos will be around soon I'm sure.

We're literally moving seven minutes from our current apartment, but the change to an actual house will be lovely. Hope everyone has a great weekend, for some of you it's finally time to bust out those benchwarmers (hot cocoa with peppermint schnaps, right?), Irish Coffees and apple cider with lots of rum. For the rest of us...cold beer and margaritas will still do!

Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf

I made the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf from The Post Punk Kitchen for a brunch recently. It was delicious. It's full of chocolate chips, pumpkin and just enough spice.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I melted 3 oz of dark chocolate in stead of using cocoa powder and used a mix of spelt and whole wheat flour. I was trying to clear some stuff out of our pantry, and since spelt and whole wheat tend to soak up more water than all purpose I think the melted chocolate worked. And, really, no one will complain that the bread is "too moist" or "too chocolatey."

Pumpkin, because fall is here

The boiling water trick works like a charm

Big mess!

Final product (the loaf pan is from Crate and Barrel, orange because it's fall)

Weekend in Review

Heavy-duty packing mode this weekend! Also, some family and friend hangout time, spending a little time at the new place measuring and looking around. The dogs love the backyard already. Also, some baking and attempting to clean out a fridge a bit. To the photos:

Adorable nephew

 

Vegetarian chili (recipe...sometime soon)

Pumpkins! (at my sister-in-law's)

Very early morning eggs with herbs (chives, tarragon, thyme)

Grey afternoon

Making a huge mess

Weekend Notes:
Nothing like laughing with Noah and eating a giant bowl of chili to take your mind off packing and moving.
Those eggs were seriously the best I've ever had. Well, I don't remember them super well since it was 5 am but I bet they were great.
Making a mess of our kitchen wasn't on the packing to-do list, but it resulted in a Chocolate Pumpkin Bread that brought the house down at a brunch. I'll post more about it later this week. Or I'll just post photos of packed boxes and impress you all with my overly involved packing procedure. By "impress" I mean, show you what a crazy person I am. Have a great week!