Let's talk about tea..

I always forget how much I love tea. We picked up this new flavor at whole foods a few weeks ago - Earl Gray Creme. Delish.

What the tea mixture look like



The packaging is nice too! Which you all know I'm a bit of a label whore as displayed in these various posts



Do you have any tea's you'd recommend. I also really love the gypsy teas!

I am head over heels for...

feathers. Especially peacock feathers. So imagine my pure delight when I popped over to Design is mine's blog and her post was all about feathers. I'm digging this necklace so much. I might need to put this on my birthday list.



It's from modcloth and is only $20.00. To continue this peacock feather craze take a look at these beauties found we heart it.

Seriously, loving this white/pink peacock feather necklace.

I'd love for this to be my little entry vignette.


I don't have any tattoo's but if i did; it'd probably be a peacock/or some other type of feather.


Also, another feather tattoo that is gorgeous. I don't think I could actually commit to a tattoo but these are gorgeous.



On that feather; I'm out.

Cheers-

Raechel

Fresh Salmon Mango Tacos with Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup
makes 6 side dishes

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 tsps chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
14 oz veggie broth
1 c water
Shredded Cheese for sprinkling
Evoo for sauteeing
S&P

1.) Heat Evoo in 3qt sauce pan, add onion and garlic and cook until tender, about 5 mins. Next stir in chili powder, cumin and red pepper with a splash of broth and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in beans and the rest of the liquids. Heat mixture to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until beans are tender.

2. ) Pour mixture into a blender or a food processor and blend until smoooth. If the soup has lost some of its heat you can put back into saucepan and cook until warm again.

3.) Sprinkle with cilantro, s&p if you desire and a bit of shredded cheese and serve.

Salmon Mango Tacos
serves 2

1 small salmon filled ( mine was about 4 to 6 oz), cubed
1 mango, cut in 1/2. ( 1/2 diced and 1/2 cut into thin slices)
1 small onion
1/4 red bell pepper
Cumin to taste
1 green onion, chopped
Evoo
S&P
Smokey Tabasco Sauce
2 Tortillas
Shredded Cheese for Sprinkling
1/8 c Salsa Verde
1/2 c. cherry tomatos, quartered
Cilantro - generous handful chopped ( 1/4-1/2c)


First - Prepare Mango Salsa
1.) Combine the following - 1/2 of the mango ( diced), 1/8th cup onion (chopped), cherry tomatoes ( quartered), green onion ( chopped) , cilantro ( chopped) and the salsa Verde.

Second - Prepare Salmon and Veggies/Fruit
1.) In a sautee pan, heat evoo and add the cubed salmon, mango slices, red bell pepper ( sliced lengthwise) , and the onion ( in long slivers) and sprinkle with a bit of cumin and sautee until the salmon is heated and the vegetables are slightly soft but still a bit crisp.

2.) Heat the tortillas. Then, sprinkle with a bit of cheese and fresh chopped cilantro and fill with salmon and veggies and top with mango salsa. I also like to add a bit of Smokey Tabasco on the top and enjoy.




This was something I just threw together with the ingredients I had at home and it ended up being amazingly delish!

Cheers-

Raech

I've got the travel bug.....

and it isn't going away at all. All I can think about is how I can figure out how to travel some where foreign. By figuring out I do mean - afford. This silly no job thing is putting a damper on my traveling. I'm hoping if I ever am laid off again that I have plenty of money to travel for five or six months. Wouldn't that be ahhhmazing.

Just some beautiful images from we heart it's website of places I'd love to be.

This lovely picture is how I feel today. I'm ready to go sit on my suitcase until someone finally decides to take me somewhere!


How gorgeous is Maldives?


Loving this cozy looking cabin in Utah. Would love to spend a weekend snuggling here!


I hope when I travel I can look as classy as this lady does! Love it.


How amazing are these mountains in Norway?


And, finally I'll leave you with this dreamy sketch of a neatly packed suitcase. Someday I'll have one of these.




Cheers-

Raech

D.I.Y. Black Table

When I first moved to California ( 4 years ago) I had a zenish/rustic feel for my house. Now my tastes have changed and I wanted to spice things up. This side board was acctually the first piece of furniture I bought in California and it works pretty great for what it is and I need a little table in my dining room to store mail/lamp/keys/phones/etc so rather than purchase a new one and get rid of this one I decided to spruce it up a bit.

Before picture of the table



The hideous fruit pattern on top that was always covered up with crap because I hated the pattern:



Now the final piece refinished in black medium gloss paint :



Also my boy dog decided he wanted to help model in the pic. Its kind of a bad picture but you get the idea of what it looks like now. On the wall to the left of the table I have a giant black ikea cube cabinet that houses all of my crap that I have no where to put because of lack of closets / basements in these houses out here!



Now I believe my little black side table will fit in much better with the whole dining room area. Phew that only took 10 months to get around to doing!

Cost -

Black Table - Free
Black Paint - Free ( leftover from J&T project)
Paint Brushes - $10 ( for a 2 pack)
-------------------------------------------------
Total - $10 plus maybe an hour of time total over 3 days

Way cheaper than buying a new side table for $50-100 from Ikea/WorldMarket/Pier1/etc..

Cheers-

Raech

Homemade Pizza Adventure #1

So as previously discussed on my blog here. I love pizza a lot. I've been on the quest to find a super thin crust pizza. Back in my hometown they are famous for cracker thin crispy pizza crusts ( think Domino's thin crust but with flavor). I've been reading blogs and searching on the web for crispy pizza crust recipes. I finally found one and I am really happy with the results. The pizza I made last night wasn't as thin and I wanted but that could be my lack of ability to read directions or that I can't spin pizza on my hands like the pros do but it was crispy, sweet, salty, and delish.



This is what our finished product looked like. Since I couldn't throw it to make it thin. I took out a giant glass bowl dusted it with flour and placed my dough over it and stretched it out to as thin as possible.

The Recipe and the blog I read to find the recipe. Kathleen's been inspiring me to try cooking outside my comfort zone. Her homemade ravioli's look ahhhmazing! I've been reading her blog for a long time and finally got in touch with her to find out about the pizza. Pretty nice little information highway this blogging thing creates!

Another few tips! I did buy a misto and a pizza peel. I did already have a pizza stone and I cooked my pizza at 550 ( the hottest my oven would go!) Now I feel super professional when I make my pizzas! Just a word of caution. This recipe needs at least 1 day to ferment so you gotta plan ahead but one batch makes 6 individual servings ( the pizza in the pic is of one crust so enough for 2 people if you have a nice little salad/veggie dish with it).

let me know if you have any tips/ideas for me on pizza

cheers-

raech

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for our craft valentine swap - deet here

Valentines is coming my loveys!

via weheartit
I'd love to do a Valentine's Day Craft Swap if anyone is interested. I could have everyone's names distributed by the end of the week and that would leave us a week to make something and a week to send it! ( even if it comes a few days late it'd still be fun to get a little giftie!) Also, if you're not interested in crafting something that's OK too! You can just buy a little gift that will make your valentine swoon!


Please let me know if you're interested in swapping!! You can email me at jackandtill@gmail.com

Deets:

Submit your Name by 1/29/10
I'll email you with your swappy by 1/30/10
Mail our pressies by 2/8/10