The Christmas Pig

These past few weeks have been a blur, filled with fun memories and lots of great food! On my last post I left off at discussing B's birthday weekend. That Friday I surprised him and we ventured to Christmas at the zoo. We both have a huge passion for animals, so I thought this would be a fun thing for us to do together.

We looked at the animals and light displays, and shared a few sweet treats from The Outpost.

We then went to the White River Gardens and explored the beautiful greenery and flowers they on display for Christmas.

On Saturday, I confirmed our reservations at The Melting Pot, and we enjoyed a delicious, three course meal of the following:

Fiesta Cheese Fondue


Shrimp & Sirloin in Court Bouillon


Chocolate S'more Fondue with strawberries, cheesecake, rice krispie treats, marshmallows, and pound cake




It was a great birthday weekend together, and I look forward to many more with him!

The following weekend we headed up to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas with B's family. We had a wonderful weekend, and received lots of items for our house. Since this is our first home, we are needing a lot of the basic necessities. To name a few, we received a crockpot, food processor, spice rack, extra spices, mixing bowls, blankets, wine rack, etc. We also went to a beautiful steak restaurant called Mr.B's. I was a little concerned about what I was going to order since I rarely eat meat, but I was happy to find a pasta section and tried their eggplant rigatoni with a side wedge salad. It was AMAZING. It was so creamy and flavorful, and I would definitely order it again. We also went a little early before our reservation and hit up the happy hour. I am so glad we did this because we were able to try the duck fat fries and steamed mussels for a fraction of the cost. I paired mine with a gingerbread flavored cocktail, and it was delicious.



This past weeekend was Christmas which was celebrated at my parents house. It was a pretty eventful weekend as I had offered to help babysit/foster an adorable piglet named Bacon. He came from a neglected household, and I could not possibly turn him down. Knowing nothing about pigs, I offered to help care for him, and quickly fell in love. However, the day before I picked him up, his foster mommy bathed him in puppy shampoo and he had a severe allergic reaction. Two days later, after waking up to him with a fever and seeing his small little body covered in bright red/orange blisters, I called her up and asked if she would nurse him back to heatlh. Because she was a vet tech at an exotic animal clinic, I felt she was much more equipped to care for the little guy, and emotions aside, I had to do what was best for him. That being said, I took him back to her house on Christmas morning, and cried the whole way home. This week, I am spending some time looking for a happy home for him, and can't wait to see him grow into a healthy young boar.



Here are two more photos of Bacon with my parents dog, Duke. They were the most unlikely pair, but became good friends in a few short days.





Anywho, that is what I have been up to the past few weeks. I have also tested/created some yummy dishes in between those weeks, and promise to post more recipes on my next post. Hope everyone has a great week, and a very happy and safe new year!

Big Ten Game & Lots of Food

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

It's another busy work week for me! Even though I have Friday off so we can celebrate Christmas in Wisconsin, I will still be working 40+ hours, on top of finishing up Christmas shopping, wrapping last minute gifts, running errands, and cooking things for my office to enjoy. I must admit, however, that despite the insanity, I do love this time of year.

Anywho, a few weeks ago we had family down from Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin was playing in the Big Ten Championship football game, and we of course had to celebrate and cheer them on. It was great to see B's family and friends, and we had a wonderful time showing them around our town. This picture was taken outside in the cold while we were tailgating and watching the Marquette basketball game. They are such troopers! ;)



The morning of the game, I made a big breakfast consisting of a variety of juices, muffins, fruit salad, blueberry skillet coffee cake, and a creamy potato casserole. Everything tasted delicious, and it kept us full until we ate later that day.

The Blueberry Skillet Coffee Cake is a Paula Deen recipe, and is super easy and tasty. The recipe can be found at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/easy-blueberry-skillet-cake-recipe/index.html or here:



Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) of unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Coffee Cake:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) of butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 (12-ounce) tube buttermilk biscuits
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

For the streusel topping: Combine the almonds, sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon until large crumbs form.
For the coffee cake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a 9-inch cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet, cook the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until melted. Arrange the biscuits in a single layer in the skillet. Scatter the blueberries over the biscuits, and then distribute the streusel topping over the berries. Bake until the biscuits are golden, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve from the skillet.

The potato casserole was the perfect accompaniment to the coffee cake. I prepped it the night before, and popped it in the oven right before serving. I got the recipe at http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/11/creamy-potato-casserole-aka-football.html , and have also listed it below.

Ingredients:

1 (28-32oz) bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
16 oz sour cream
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups corn flakes, crushed
1/4 cup butter, cubed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients, except corn flakes, and spread into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Top with crushed cornflakes and dot with cubed butter. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Tomorrow is B's 28th birthday, and my mom wanted to have him over for his favorite meal. This past weekend I took him to Christmas at the Zoo on Friday, and the Melting Pot for a 3 course fondue dinner on Saturday. We had a wonderful time, and I am so lucky to have him as my partner. More pictures to come later :)

Perfectionism

Sometimes (most of the time) I ask myself why I put so much on my plate. I am a perfectionist to a fault, and drive myself crazy trying to maintain perfection in every aspect of my life.

I work very hard at my job, and often work late nights and compulsively check my email after I leave the office. No email can go unanswered before my head hits the pillow. Unfortunately, I work with doctors. I have concluded that they do not sleep. Ever. I will receive an email at 2 or 3 in the morning, and always feel the need to wake myself up and answer their questions. I have been in this position since I graduated from college (a little over 2 years ago), and have definitely learnt a lot about working for an institution, and how to work my way up the corporate ladder. I have made some great contacts along the way, and hope these will come in handy in the future. I am not sure where my career path is going to lead me, but I will not accept anything but success.

After a long day of meetings, answering people's questions, and explaining how to complete a project, I head to the gym, return home to do the laundry, clean furniture around the house, run miscellaneous errands, and/or begin dinner. I do LOVE to cook, but sometimes I am exhausted, and just want something to instantly appear with no effort involved.

There are also very, very few days (if any) where I am able to sit down and relax before ten or eleven p.m. I am ALWAYS doing something, and even when I am supposed to be "relaxing," I have a million things running through my head. When I eventually retire to my television at night, I am either cutting coupons to save money, making lists of lists of food to cook, items to buy, things to prep, and/or spending time on my personal appearance which is not limited to re-shaping my eyebrows, painting my nails, and straightening my hair. Due to these things, I very rarely find myself in bed before 12 or 1 in the morning.

Because of these actions, I drive myself crazy.

I think with the new year rolling around, I am going to make more of an effort to take time out for myself. It will be hard with my upcoming move with the boyfriend, but for my sanity (and his), I need to accept that I can not and do not have to be perfect. Don't get me wrong, I do love my life and am grateful for the people and things in it. And despite my neurotic tendencies, I do experience all of the fun things that accompany working hard. However, I need to accept that everything around me can not be perfect at all times.

I have to remind myself that...

Subject to inspection and appraisal...

we have a house! After 6 months of searching, studying locations, crunching numbers, and planning for our big move, we have found the perfect house for the 2 of us(4 if you include the pups). This house is perfect for us because it is our house, in which we can create memories, and make it our own. We found out the sellers accepted our offer last Friday, and our closing date is at the end of January. Our inspection is this Wednesday, so please keep your fingers crossed. The house is only 4 years old so we aren't expecting anything major, but I am still nervous. Here is a photo of our biggest purchase to date...

P.S. The shutters and front door are all the same color, despite the coloring in the photograph :)

Along with being busy at work, I have been doing a lot of cooking/creating in the kitchen. I am really looking forward to having my own kitchen to cook in, along with having my own space. I have SO many recipes I can't wait to try out, and thanks to B's mom, I am now the proud owner of two more boxes of books to add to my collection!

Working 40+ hours a week, going to the gym, taking care of multiple dogs, executing the daily household chores, all while trying to maintain a social life can be hectic. We all have those days where we get home, exhausted, and don't know what to whip up for dinner. I had one of those days last week and threw together this super simple, but tasty meal.

It is more of a summer salad due to its fruit selections, but you can enjoy it any time of the year with the right choice of fruit.

Summer Salad
Salad Ingredients:
Bag of fresh spinach or arugula salad
Handful of freshly sliced strawberries
Handful of blueberries
1/4 cup of pecans (or cashews)
2 grilled & sliced chicken cutlets (optional)

Dressing Ingredients:
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 T chopped garlic
Dash of sugar
Dash of salt & black pepper

Toss together freshly washed spinach, strawberries, blueberries, pecans, and chicken. In separate bowl, whip the vinegar while adding in the garlic, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Slowly add in the olive oil while whisking. Toss dressing on salad, and serve immediately.

I also served this salad with gorgonzola garlic bread. It is so easy to make, and puts a different twist on your average garlic bread.


Gorgonzola Garlic Bread
Ingredients:
1/4 cup margarine (softened)
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese
1 T chopped garlic
1 T chopped basil
Dash of salt & black pepper
1 baguette, cut into slices

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Whip together the margarine and cheese. After chopping the garlic, add in this along with the basil, salt, and pepper. Spread the cheese mixture on top of the sliced baguette pieces. Place into 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted. For extra flavor, you can top slices with parmesan cheese upon removing from the oven.

Happy cooking!

"A charming woman is a busy woman." -Loretta Young

Good morning, blog followers! It has been awhile since I have posted, so I thought I should update you all on a few things...

The bf and I still haven't heard anything regarding the offer we put on the short sale house. Yes, it has almost been 3 months. We are continuing our house hunt, but because his lease is up at the end of January, we would like to have something finalized by the end of this year. We are looking at multiple houses this weekend, so we will see what that brings.

I have been doing a lot of fall cooking, and love the rich, hearty recipes that accompany this season.

Here are a few of my favorite dishes as of late:

Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Mexican Flautas

Tortilla Soup with Avocado and Cilantro

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

The stuffed peppers were vegan, and turned out delicious. I also make tortilla soup quite frequently because I LOVE all of the flavors, and can add as much or little hot sauce as I like. Finally, the pumpkin cookies are the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving dessert table. They are full of flavor and perfectly fluffy. I found the recipe here...http://www.nutmegnanny.com/2009/11/24/pumpkin-cookies-with-brown-butter-icing/

I have been super busy this fall, and am sure things will get even more busy as the holiday season approaches.

In the past 30 days I have done the following...

Visited B's family in Wisconsin and had a fun alcohol-free night of celebrating Wisconsin's win against Nebraska.

Gone to the baptism of B's first nephew wearing the cutest outfit I have ever seen (a Ralph Lauren onesie & shoes I bought him)!

Golfed at a country club for the first time, and surprisingly didn't do too bad.

Visted Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland to see my dad's side of the family...I literally shopped until I couldn't see my toes from all the bags I was holding. Did I mention Times Square was extra insane with the Occupy Wall Street Protestors there?

And, my adorable pup, Tinky, attended his first dog costume party (dressed as a turtle) where he partied with Peyton Manning's dog, Presley.

Duke also dressed up...as a fat pumpkin.

In conclusion, life is busy, but really good. I am getting excited for Christmas, and can't wait to get more kitchen gadgets for our house, and other decorating things. Tis the season!

Italian Dinner, Upcoming Vacation, Food Trucks

Well, it is finally Thursday. This week has seemed to drag on and on. After work today I am taking photos with a friend to submit in a contest. The photos are supposed to accentuate your eyes, and all proceeds go towards the campaign for preventing blindness. If you feel inclined, you can vote for me at https://www.360photocontest.com/page/viewIndex/secure/on/contestId/108/clear/1 as soon as I submit my photo.


These past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I find myself rarely at home, and always going to bed way too late. You only live once, right?! Here are few updates:

-It has been 1.5 months, and we still have not heard anything back regarding the short sale house. We did, however, find another house we are very interested in. This house is located in the same neighborhood as the short sale property, and we concluded that we would wait 2 more weeks, and then consider putting an offer on the other house.

-My mom's birthday was last week. On Sunday, I made a big fat Italian dinner for my parents, B & myself. The menu included:

Appetizers: Mozzarella Tomato Tartlets, Olives Imported from Italy
Entrees: Chicken Parmesan, Tomato Basil Pasta
Sides: Ceasar Salad, Garlic Parmesan Breadsticks
Desserts: Raspberry Torte, Limone Biscotti

Everything turned out delicious, and I set up the table using Italian fabrics/products. It was a cuter version of this...



-I, along with my mom, will be visiting my dad's mother who lives in Pennsylvania the second week of October. We will be staying at my half-sister's (yes, that is a real word. she is my dad's daughter from his first marriage) house in Maryland. We are going up for a 4 day weekend, and we will be spending all day Saturday in New York. I am so excited to see my family, shop, & eat some delicious cuisine!

-My latest obsession in the world of food are food trucks. Food trucks are relatively new to Indy and to my knowledge, there are 12 trucks. Although they aren't always inexpensive, they serve up a variety of dishes and flavors, and are always made right to order. To date, I have tried 2 trucks, Scratch and West Coast Tacos. I have decided to do a reveiw of sorts, and will report back more after I attend the Food Truck Fest on October 7.

I ate at the Scratch truck a few weeks back. I had the spicy chicken cone and hand cut fries, with basil lemonade. I was impressed that the menu had such a variety of options such as a burger topped with arugala & gorgonzola cheese, a BLT with pancetta, and a pork meatball sandwich. The chicken cone was very good, but I felt it could have used some more greens or rice, or something else besides chicken in a tortilla shell. The french fries were served piping hot, and the lemonade was very good, even if it was basil flavoring instead of fresh basil. All in all, I would give this truck a B+, and am definitely looking forward to trying more of their fresh creations.

A co-worker and I ate at West Coast Tacos yesterday afternoon. I settled on the sesame chicken burrito, and my friend got the pulled pork burrito. Overall, I was quite disappointed. Although I enjoyed the spicy flavor of the burrito, both of our burritos were very dry, and needed to be topped with a salsa or sour cream. I was also disappointed that there were so few options available. There were 4 different types of burritos, but they offered up no side dishes or interesting drink options. I had high hopes for this truck, but because of the well combined flavors, I would still give them a C+.


Well, that is all for now. Back to work I go! Stay tuned next week for some quick and healthy recipes!

Labor Day Weekend

Goooooood afternoon, blog followers!

Well, after long adue, I am finally getting around to posting a new blog.

Here is what has been happening as of late...

In regards to our house offer, we have still not heard anything. It has been almost 4 weeks, & we have yet to hear if our offer was accepted, if the bank is even interested in our offer, or how many other offers are on the table. Short sales can be very frustrating/time consuming, but I'd like to think that they can also be very rewarding if you get the house you want for much, much less than it has been appraised at. At this point, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed & hoping for the best!

Work has been very, very busy, but I am trying to remain level-headed as this is my "busy season." I know there will be a lot of late nights ahead, but I can't let myself get too wrapped up in my work that I drive myself (& everyone around me) crazy.

This Labor Day weekend the boyfriend & I headed up to Milwaukee/Wisconsin Dells for a four day vacation. We left Thursday evening after work & arrived at his parents house in MKE around midnight. It's really not a bad drive, & we have 2 rest stops we always make pit stops at where we know the cashiers by name. Most of the drive I spend in the backseat cuddling up with the pup. Anyways, here is a quick synopsis of our trip, along with a few photos...

Friday: We left Milwaukee around noon after a nice morning of playing with B's nephew, Aidan. He is such a good little boy & grows more & more everyday! After a 1.5 hour drive up to Wisconsin Dells, our first stop was at the delicious Moosejaw Pizza for pineapple pizza & a variety of delicious beers!

After lunch, we walked around town, shopped a little bit, then made our way to our cozy hotel nestled in the woods. Our balcony overlooked the lake & it was definitely a comfortable room for the inexpensive price. We then decided to take the kayaks out for a spin on Lake Delton while we waited for our friends to arrive...

Unfortunately, it started to rain. Fortunately, we were shortly thereafter greeted with bloody marys from our friends Matt & Kelly who had just arrived in town. Two hours & a few cocktails later, we settled on sushi for dinner, & then headed to what was one of the strangest/most interesting nights I have had in a long time. We ended up at a club called WETT, and danced the night away!



Saturday: We woke up around 10 after hitting the snooze button multiple times, & decided it was too rainy to go to our intended destination, Noah's Ark. Being that the Dells is the water park capital of the world, we settled on our next best option, Kalahari Water Park.

This is just a small snippet of the HUGE indoor waterpark the Kalahari Hotel holds. Did I mention you could surf inside?

We also spent a large portion of our day causing chaos at the outdoor section of the waterpark, nestled under one of the many tiki bars complete with loaded nachos & pina coladas.



We topped off our night at Kahunaville Restaurant & Bar where we had a delicious dinner while watching a bar flair show. Because it was only midnight, we decided to head next door to the indoor theme park in which we had free tickets to. We played laser tag, rode the go karts, & watched Matt waste money on numerous claw machines. SO much fun!

Sunday (Funday): Woke up late (again) & headed to breakfast at an old 50's Diner. B & I then headed out of town back to Milwaukee for a day of fun with his family. Although we were running on little to no sleep, it was great to see his (huge) family & indulge in some of the most delicious food I have ever had. B's mom is so talented, & I always look forward to trying some of her creations. She really outdid herself at this party, & made 3 different types of sliders...lamb sliders w/ tzatziki sauce, bbq sliders topped w/ coleslaw, & buffalo burgers drizzled w/ blue cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about it, & I ate until I couldn't move my mouth.

Monday: B's mom made delicious berry crepes with sausage patties for breakfast before we headed back to Indy. 6 hours later, we arrived safe & sound in Indy. Bed followed soon after.

Well, that is all that has been going on around here. I will try to update this more frequently. Now to prep myself for a 4 day work week!

Mad Men Fashion Collection

Today, I happily discovered that Banana Republic is creating a fashion collection inspired by one of my favorite television shows, Mad Men. For those of you who don't know much about this witty and intriguing show, it is set in the 1960's, and the main character, Jon Hamm clothing makes me drool. It is awesome to think that I can now purchase my absolute favorite era of fashion without having to spend too much, or having to buy vintage. Needless to say, I have already looked through the 65 piece catalog, and have set my eyes on this trench coat...

In case you are interested, here is the link to the full story: http://www.nwsource.com/shopping/fashion/mad-men-fashion-collection-banana-republic-launches-aug-11?cmpid=2336

We still have no news on the house, so I am spending my "extra" time looking at clothes. Probably not the best idea, but it made my lunch hour much more pleasant! :)

First Blog, First House

Hello, blogging community!

Well, after years of procrastination, I decided to finally take the time to set up a blog. I thought it would be fun to record all of the adventures that go on in my life...the good, the bad, the ugly (but mainly good) ;)

I am a woman of many interests, but I want to focus this blog on cooking, interior designing, and my current lusts in the world of fashion.

My latest venture consists of purchasing a house with my boyfran. It seems so juvenille to say "boyfriend," but since we aren't engaged (yet), I will use the correct terminology. We started looking a few months ago, and unlike many people I have really enjoyed the process. Seeing as how I am a obsessive compulsive perfectionist, the most difficult aspect I found was being able to overlook the foibles, and try to view the house as a blank slate, waiting for us to put our mark on it. After viewing around 20 homes which we liked, but did not love, we decided to take a break from the house hunt. Upon driving through one of our favorite neighborhoods in town, we stumbled upon a newer home that appeared to be empty. After peaking through the windows and watching the sun set over the pond in the backyard, I knew I had to see it. I scheduled an appointment with our realtor, and we were able to tour it the next day. As soon as I walked in the door, I immediately fell in love. I screamed professed to Brian and our realtor, that this...is...it! We viewed the rest of the house, and each room got better and better. Here is a picture of part of the exterior...

It has an East Coast, Cape Cod feel, and I've already decided that I would put two black wicker chairs on the front porch with red and black patterned cushions.

Ok, ok, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Needless to say, the next morning, we put in an offer. We gave the seller (the bank) until Friday, and hopefully, we wont have to wait that long to get a response. Until then, I am trying hard to focus on work instead of daydreaming about fabrics, paint colors, and textiles.

If you've read this, thank you for taking the time out of your day, and lets hope my next post will bring good news!