Lemon heaven

I can tell I'm new at blogging mostly because I get completely finished with projects, meals, etc., and THEN think to myself "awww shit. I should've taken photos." .... maybe someday it'll occur to me BEFORE hand so I can document the process, but alas. For now, you get website cache photos.

One of M and I's favorite meals is lemon cream pasta with....wait for it.... brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts are one of those stereotypical veggies that land on lists of "food kids won't eat," which is quite unfortunate, actually. I had always liked the IDEA of brussel sprouts. I thought I'd feel very grown up if I could work them into a meal. I also thought this would help cement my ridiculous belief that I am somehow a "foodie".... SO when I stumbled across this (delightfully easy) recipe on pinterest I decided it was time to give it a go.

Lemon cream pasta with brussel sprouts:

(photo via)
I use penne noodles, because I keep them on hand.
I also couldn't locate "baby" brussel sprouts so I just got the regular sized ones, cut off the little stem "nubbin" and then halved them.
There's something endearing about brussel sprouts that makes me smile, and keeps me making this dish. I think it's the fact that they look like itty-bitty heads of lettuce. Miniature anything makes me giggle.

Part 2 of the leamon heaven occurred earlier this week in the form of lemon ricotta cookies with a lemon glaze (my girl crush on Giada persists....)

Lemon Ricotta Cookies (with a lemon glaze)

(photo via)

I didn't have any baking powder on hand, so I googled and found that baking powder and baking soda are interchangeable in a 2:1 proportion (I read somewhere else it was 3:1, but even numbers are easier for math :-) ). SO, you can half the amount of baking powder if that's what is called for, and use baking soda, OR double the amount of baking soda if that's what is called for and use baking powder. I halved the entire recipe (44 cookies is entirely unecessary for just M and myself, and my lack of self control), and then halved the amount of baking powder again, and wound up with 1/4 tsp baking soda.

Also, the recipe says to plop 2 tbsp of dough onto the sheet.. I started to get panicked when the cookies didn't spread out like a normal cookie.. so if you put it on the sheet in a ball, it'll bake in a ball.. I discovered you kind of have to pre-pat it into a "cookie" form (not TOO thin though) and then they come out looking like biscuits almost. The ricotta makes them SOOO fluffy. They actually reminded me a lot of scones, and I think I'd make them again even for a breakfast and call them that. SO good.

We (I) even gave TJ a nibble, he approved.

-Kelly

bathroom redo

I'm firmly convinced home remodeling is an addiction, and one that has snowballed in our house. When we first moved in, I had NO problem with the bathroom. The more time I spent in it,

however, the more I got sick of feeling like I was enveloped in a big brown turd. (S0rry for the visual). Brown above the chair rail, brown below the chair rail, and before we even bought the place M had got brown towels, shower curtain, and bath mats. SO. much. brown.

After spending inordinate amount of time on Pinterest, I decided there were 2 sets of

color combinations I wanted in a house. The first was light gray and white, which I got in the living room. The second, was a darker blue/gray, with white and black (or dark dark brown. (Shout out to M who lets me have free reign on the house. A girl's dream ;-) ...).

SO yesterday a trip to Home Depot to look for granite for the kitchen quickly turned into a bathroom redo. I picked out a blue/gray color called Shale Gray (from Home Depot's Behr paint collection). I also wanted to contemporize (that's a word, yes? no. whatevs, moving on) the vanity... the oak was pretty, but it was just a smidge too traditional for me. I liked the faucet and sink, so all we needed to do was give the vanity a sand, and a coat of black paint... and voila! our tired turd-brown bathroom has turned into a cool contemporary retreat! lurve it. Also got a new shower curtain from Target, black hand towels, and a black bath mat. Every time I walk by it, I smile.

M asked if we could be done painting rooms now. We moved in only wanting to paint 2, and have now painted 5. Woops. Oh well, I love customizing the home.

Saturday morning I judged moot court at school. I did the same competition last year. You and a partner write a mock brief (based on a "case" you are given) to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The brief is then scored, after which you argue that brief in front of a panel of judges against another team- this is called oral arguments. I use the term "argue" loosely, you basically prepare an outline of your brief of your best and most important points, and present them to the judges. The tricky part is that the judges get to ask you questions. SO you have to be very well prepared for all kinds of questions. There are 16 teams in the competition that compete within the school, and from there, the coach picks 6 people to participate in the New York City Bar Association's National moot court competition, which I also did last year. It's fun to be on the other side of the bench, in jeans, and be the one asking the tough questions!

After that, I came home and M and I landscaped a bit. Saturday night I went and saw Hairspray at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater with M's mom, grandma, 2 aunts, and 2 cousins. It was a blast! You eat dinner in the theater, and then turn your chairs slightly, and watch the show- without ever leaving the room! Dessert comes at intermission too, which is genius if you ask me.

All in all, a good, productive weekend. It's gotten to the point where when M and I woke up on Sunday with no plans to do anything to the house and I started to get a little panicky. We quickly remedied that with an all day bathroom redo, but oy-vey. I need to take a weekend off of "home stuff".. mostly just to prove to myself that I CAN. haha.

-Kelly

Recipe: Zucchini-Chorizo Orzo

If you had told me 3 years ago I'd a) enjoy cooking, b) be able to make some pretty good dishes that did not involve frozen tortellini or grilled cheese ( no disrespect to the grilled cheeze. I luv me some GC), I'd have laughed at you. I'm not even sure how it happened. One day I was stalking a food blog, and over time it evolved into experimentation and a cooking confidence I had never felt before. I used to read cookbooks and if I didn't know what the ingredient was or it looked too hard, I'd skip it. Words really can't express how nice it is to look at a recipe now and know what I can tweak, what I can do without, and what I can substitute to get a different flavor without completely botching the whole thing. I'm no Giada (although I do have an epic girl crush on her), I'm proud at how far I've come. No complaints from M, either. ;-)

SO tonight I made zuchinni-chorizo orzo. M and I had a shredded zucchini dish with chorizo at 112 eatery on valentines day 3 years ago. While I haven't been quite able to replicate it, I love to putz around with chorizo. (which is a spicy mexican sausage.)

Ingredients:

-orzo (or any kind of pasta, really)

-chorizo (I used the kind that looks like brats. not really "authentic" but it served its purpose)

-zucchini

and really that's it! For the basic dish. You can add whatever else you want so I added:

-onion (because I use it in everything)

-green beans (because I had some leftover)

Chop all the veggies and chorizo like so. Then, take a potato peeler and "shred" the zucchini into strips.

Saute the onion and green beans in about a tbsp of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper (as you've probably noticed, I don't use exact measurements of anything, really...which is ironic because that's what always intimidated me about cooking before)

After about 5-7 minutes, toss in the chorizo. Brown the chorizo for about 5 minutes-- the chorizo starts to "sweat" juices out which then serves as the primary flavoring for the veggies and the zucchini

Add the zucchini last, and cook for about 5 more minutes.

I then drizzled another tbsp of olive oil over the drained orzo, and added a tbsp of balsamic vinegar (olive oil and balsamic vinegar are 2 things I just always have in bottles on the stove) to flavor the noodles a smidge- it's not really necessary. Mix in the rest of the veggies with the noodles, and add salt and pepper to taste. Voila! zucchini chorizo orzo. easy peasy.

In other news, as previously mentioned, I have a lady-crush on Giada. Giada adds lemons to drinks and makes them pretty and fancy. SO I picked up 3 lemons at the grocery store last time I was there, and have taken to slicing them into my water. I use a half of a lemon for each drink (and will just refill the tumbler the rest of the night.. so a half a lemon per "night" I guess). SO tasty.

That's my sexy BarBri tumbler. BarBri is the review course for the bar exam... remember the review course (Kaplan, usually) for the ACT/SAT? same thing. Kaplan even has a bar review course, but BarBri is the most widely used. The class is M-F for 7 or 8 weeks, from 6-9:30. I told M that with work and BarBri I'd see him in August after I take the bar exam. He laughed. I was kinda serious. This is shaping up to be a fun summer!

-Kelly

The abbreviated story of "us"

I thought I'd take a break from posting about my compulsive home decorating to sharing the story of "M"...and how we met, since it's a tad untraditional. You remember M, don't you? Here he is!

Where oh where might I have been lucky enough to find such a handsome specimen?

wait for it.....:

That's right, folks. I'm a walking, talking, match.com success story. (still waiting for our commercial deal. srsly. I emailed them like twice. third time's a charm?!)

Let's back it up though and tell the whole story. It was the winter of 2009, November to be exact, (the day before Thanksgiving to be more exact) and I had just been dumped by my ex for the 4th (and final, oof) time. One of my good friends, Leah, was an avid online dater and she suggested prior to the breakup, "If E ever gets stupid and breaks up with you again, you should make a match profile!".... sure, I thought. We'll see. Well, true to form, he did, and not more than 4 days later I did. I created an online profile "just in case" and made it invisible. I wasn't ready to launch myself onto the world. A few days later, after a long evening of studying at school, I said "f&$% it." and I "launched" so to speak.

I had a "free" subscription at the time. That means I could see how many messages I had, but couldn't read them. All I could see were my "winks" (think "poke" function on FB). I created a gmail account with the same name as my match.com name, and tried to sneak language into my profile to get people to email me so I could avoid paying for a subscription. It worked a few times but on the whole people weren't catching on. Then, browsing through my winks, I saw this picture:

Me likey. I browsed the rest of his photos and profile. I liked what I saw: marketing? can transition from suits to jeans flawlessly? Law and Order addict? catholic boy? loves hockey? sign me up! One problem: I couldn't email him since I was still on my free subscription. SO I did what any normal gal would do- cracked for a free 3-day trial, where I sent him my personal email address (as well as 4-5 other guys) and then bailed on Match.

I waited, and waited, and emailed with some people who turned out to be a wee bit creepy (another story all together), and had all but given up on "the one I caved for"... when one day, "Matt _____" popped up in my gmail inbox. My heart stopped. My first thought was, "is this Matthew_____ from Match?" since the names didn't match. ( he had used his middle name on match and his last name was in the email). We emailed back and forth for a few weeks (Dec. 6th to Dec. 29th)... I was only really using my gmail account for "M" emails back then, so I'd log in and wait eagerly as it loaded, desperate to see that little (1) at the top of the page. We arranged to meet on NYE at 1:00 to go ice skating at a local indoor rink. Quite symbolic, to be meeting on the day of the year that "they say" sets the tone for the rest of your year.

The rest is history. He was the first, and last, online date I ever went on. Below is a picture of us on our 1-year anniversary. We made a promise that no matter what we do that night, we'd go ice skating at the same rink we met at on NYE afternoon.

and here we are (below) on our 2-year anniversary skate a few months ago.

Lots has happened in between. We attended our first winter carnival in January 2010 and took our "first photo ever" together (below)...that's us sitting on an ice chair. Brr.

I went to the tiny island nation of Malta for a study abroad for law school in the summer of 2010, and after only 6 months of dating, M flew thousands of miles to see me for a week while I was there. (below) that's us on the island of Gozo at a hotel

[Actually, my trip to Malta was my first real attempt at blogging. I mentioned my travel blog before, which I tried to convert into a "lifestyle blog" and failed. Anyway, here it is, in case you want to read firsthand about my trip to Malta, and M's visit.]

We attended a lot of sporting events those first two years, here are a few of them:

annndddd we attended, and were in, a ridiculous amount of weddings.

(Below) Clockwise from top left

1. guests. M's cousin

2. MOH, and M officiated! (that's right ladies, he's an ordained minister ;-)

3. guests. M's college friends

4. guests. M's college friends

5. guests. my cousin

6. Best man. M's college friends

7. (center) guests. M's college friends
I suppose we're at "that age".... and yes, I chose to put a bunch of pictures that show me (gasp) wearing the same dresses to multiple events! haha. When you have 4-7 weddings a year, like I do, you'd try to get at least 2 uses out of a dress. I'd do it where the weddings were for different groups of people. (so sneaky).

The last 2+ years have been incredible. We've had our ups and downs, but the "relationship" aspect of us as a whole has just come so naturally. There was never any fuss about being "official", there was never any fuss about dropping those 3 little words, and when it came time for M to house shop, there really wasn't much question of how involved I was going to be in the process since we both knew I'd be moving in the same time he did. The only thing that took a LEEETLE bit of convincing was TJ. But seeing M's face when TJ trots over, hops into his lap, and falls asleep tells me that it probably wasn't as tough a battle to convince him as I thought. Sometimes I forget we met on Match.com, until someone asks us..and then I think "oh yeah. that really happened that way, didn't it. ha!"

So, that's the abbreviated story of 'us' ... :-)

-Kelly

The addiction continues.

This past Monday I got done with class early around 12 and was feeling ambitious. In addition to finally dropping my suit off at the dry cleaner (I think I'm ready for my AARP card!), getting groceries, and fixing the 4G on my new phone at Verizon... I got the crafting bug. I stopped by Target with the intention to get a cool looking clock for the kitchen and that's when I saw it, "buy one get one 50% off mix and match home sale"...and it was all downhill from there. I had been wanting a shelving unit of some sort for above the toilet for a while now, and then I saw this beaut for $16.99 at Target and couldn't pass it up. It has an oil rubbed bronze finish, which is the same as the rest of the hardware in the bathroom. I love that it frees up the back of the toilet (where the candles, air freshener, and vase of shells) were previously housed.

Since we moved in, I knew I wanted a "clock, chalkboard, wine rack" collage of sorts on the big open kitchen wall. It's really the only wall in the kitchen with nothing on it. The other 3 are covered with cabinets and appliances. So, I took advantage of the 50% off deal and got the clock pictured. It's actually a see through clock, but there's an outlet near the ceiling in the kitchen (no idea...) that we wanted to cover, so I used the cardboard backing the clock came in, and just taped it there. Now the clock back looks black, and matches the chalkboard! (as well as the range, and fridge, which have black sides).

The chalkboard was a DIY I was pretty proud of. We have this IKEA coffee table in the living room and basement..er.. "man cave." I didn't want to paint the chalkboard right on the wall in case we went to sell and the prospective buyers didn't like it, so I'd been looking for some type of board I could use. The lower shelf of the coffee table wasn't getting much use downstairs, so I took it and sawed it in 3/4. Since it was already black, I didn't feel the need to prime the board. I spray painted it with 2 coats of chalkboard paint (around $3.99 at Home Depot). I used some white trim we had laying around from the living room remodel and made the frame. There's some spaces where the corners all butt up against each other, but I think (and M agreed) it gives it some character. I could always use some silicone gel to fill it too, but I was too excited to get it hung before M got home from work.

(TIP: before drawing on the chalkboard after it's dry you have to "prime" it: lightly rub a piece of chalk sideways across the entire surface, and then wipe it clean. You're good to go!)

Here's a shot (above) of the kitchen looking through to the front of the house. One of my favorite views because you can see 3 of the wall colors- the sage green, the brown hall (that the living room used to be) and the gray living room. lurve. (nerd.)

Tonight M and I hung a wine rack (yep, more IKEA) to the right of the chalkboard. I took a picture but for whatever reason emailing it to myself (so it's a better quality to post to blogger) is taking eons. So once again, you get an unfinished photo. At least I have links this time to complete the visual.

UPDATE: email finally worked- here's a photo of the finished look:

(Not sure if you can see the text on the chalkboard but I figure I'm better off explaining now: "pickes" is my nickname. so no, M doesn't have an affinity for the gerkin. Actually, I do, which is how I got my nickname as a child.)

and lastly, here's another shot of the living room. OH- I also got that small circle table between the chairs at Target the same day. It was my 50% off item, so I got it for $8! We had a larger IKEA side table that looked too clunky with the new sleek chairs. (Yes, initially we furnished half our house with IKEA stuff, but hey...it was economic.)

I also have been meaning to post things that don't involve home renovations..but keep forgetting. Maybe I'll write about court this week... or my "fancy pizza" this Friday for lent. (hopefully if I write it down I'll remember to post it)

-Kelly

Weekend Randoms

As promised, here are some of the updated shots of our progress from last weekend! As you can see we got a cord-keeper to hide 90% of the snarl of cords, and for now that's as good as it's going to get! A close up of my Michaels crafted flower decoration. Who knew giant plastic flowers were so expensive! That's a glass vase I painted black. Only because I had to.. I was so excited when I got home from Michaels that I brought the whole vase/flower ensemble outside to show M, who was painting the entryway table. The wind then knocked it over and smashed the lip. womp. SO I put duct tape on the top so it wasn't sharp and painted it all. I actually like it darker better.

Here's the full shot of the finished tv, shelves, and flower arrangement

A finished shot of our little entryway vignette. The finished table, my topiary tree, and 2 small canvases I made. The one on the left says "Home is where the heart is" in stickers. The one on the right, that never photographs well, is a white heart made of glue, and then the whole canvas was spray painted white to give it a "raised" effect. Mirror was a grandma hand-me-down. In the reflection are more mirrors that are on the other wall... which I'll have to photograph when we get a new couch.

TJ lounging, per usual, while we worked on the house.

annnddd lastly, the most adorable puppy on the planet- Nina. She's a white golden retriever, M's friends' puppy. To die for cute. Saturday we went to M's friends and grilled, played yard games, and drank from 1:30-10 or so. Couldn't think of a better way to spend an 80 degree mid-March day. unbelievable weather we've been having lately!

Today (Sunday) M and I got new cabinet hardware. We replaced the old hardware of the existing cabinets and added it to the new cabinets. Granite shopping was a bust today, so hopefully we can do that next weekend... so I can finally take pictures of the finished product. Of course after that there will be backsplash to come, yet... but it'll be more finished than it is now at least.

-Kelly

The lifestyle

When we were looking for homes, and even long before, I often heard people refer to homeownership as "a lifestyle"... and I never quite understood what that meant. I remember in high school, and quite frankly my entire youth, getting together with neighbors or family and hearing the conversation drift to, "ahhh yeah we spent Saturday working on the house" and thinking "man, how boring. why would you ever want to own a house? It sounds like too much work." and then, like the invasion of the body snatchers, the pod people came and I morphed seemingly overnight into one of those "working on the home people."

The thing is, people say it with such disdain... "ughhh I had to work on the house," and maybe I'm delusional and we're in the honeymoon stage of home ownership, but I freaking LOVE it. It definitely takes the right frame of mind, and right place in your life, but M agrees: nothing brings me such satisfaction as watching a room transform. Not huge changes, but paint colors, side tables, crown molding, and having people come over and tell you how cute your living room is thinking "I did ALL this myself. I made almost EVERYTHING in my room."

Anywhoo, M and I spent this past Sunday hunkered down and putting some finishing touches on our living room. We had been using a semi-circle side table for our TV stand for the longest time, debating whether to get a faux fireplace, just a faux fireplace mantle to put it on, or floating shelves. Well, we finally had enough and decided to go with the cheapest option- floating shelves. As I mentioned in my tree post I had been wanting to get a small entryway table for a while now. I had my eye on one at Target that was $99, when it hit me: why not convert the semi-circle table into an entryway table! It'd sit perfectly along the wall,...all we needed was to raise the legs.


My initial bright idea was to just saw them off where they met the top and baseboard. M, uncharacteristically, decided we should try to unscrew it first to see how it came apart and salvage some pieces. We bought some table legs at Home Depot for $8.24 or so a pop.

and we (M) dismantled the table

We used the old top, and screwed the table legs in through the top of the base. M used some wood fill to cover up the screw top, and sanded it down. I just realized I have NO pictures of the finished product, (woops) and will have to get those. But we sanded it and painted it black, to match the rest of the furniture.

We then installed these floating shelves for the TV. I have no picture of the final product of this either. We got a black cord keeper so there's no longer a mess of cords dangling down, and I went to Michaels and got a tall vase and tall fake flowers that are currently sitting below the TV. We've been having a silent standoff with TJ and the flowers. For the most part he seems to ignore them, but every now and then he'll creep over and test his luck.

Speaking of TJ, this is how he spent our "housework sunday".... just inspecting the small fuzzy lining of the window base. Everything checked out okay.

-Kelly