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Happy New Year!

Its the first day of 2012 and while it seems that 2013 is so far away I know that it will be here before I blink!

I am going to do a 2011 roundup of the year. It was such a wonderful year for me with such big surprises but until I get to it! Here's my first purchase of 2012. A new coffee table to replace my old ikea dining table that I sawed the legs down on. Hey! Sometimes you gotta make things work so you can spend your money else where.


I've been dreaming of one of those railroad cart coffee tables but Jack does a lot of drawing at our coffee table so it needs to be a smooth surface and the true vintage ones are running anywhere from $800+. So I settled for a knock off version from World Market that seems to fit the bill.

Winter Wearables

I'm pretty excited to wear my new winter gear. Its been getting chilly in LA and I know it will be cold when I'm home for Christmas!

and a new instagram of us on our way to Target. Something about this weekend made me feel super grown up. I kinda liked it.

Pintrest

So not that Pintrest is anything new but I've been using it lately and I'm seriously loving it. Its fun to spend 10 minutes a day going thru inspirational images and tagging them to your own boards! I also found it extremely helpful for designing my wedding inspiration board.

So if you're on it please add me!

Jack and Till Pintrest Boards

Below is a single image from each of my current boards

Things I like


Hot Men


Clothes


Wedding Inspiration


Dream Homes


Travel Dreams

Farmers Market Goodness

This weekend I tried to see if we could shop exclusively at our farmers market and we came pretty darn close!

We're really lucky and at our farmers market we have meat, dairy and egg suppliers! The only thing I can tell we are missing is a grain farmer. We would have sucessfully been able to shop only at the farmers market except the meat/dairy farmer was out of butter which I needed for a plum cake I'm planning on making later in the week.

Have you been able to shop only at a farmers market? Any tips? Do you find you save money?

November!

Wow November is here already! I've got an action packed month - bestie coming to visit next weekend, maybe another friend the following weekend and Thanksgiving! Pretty soon its going to be December! I can't wait!


Plus it feels like fall in LA with the cool nights and cool sunny days!

*photo via weheartit

Happy Halloween! Almost...

Halloween falls on a Monday. Boo. So we celebrated all weekend by watching Halloween movies and for breakfast today I made Pumpkin Waffles.


Seriously, maybe the best waffles I have ever had. They're a little sweet once you get the whipped cream and syrup on top but that's why you make ham and eggs to balance out with some saltiness right?


I don't know what I'd do without my ipad! Its the best cookbook.


Everything's all mixed up, egg whites folded in and the waffle iron is hot!


If you're interested in making them here's the recipe with my additions in (parentheses).

Best Ever Pumpkin Waffles

INGREDIENTS
makes 4 round “Belgian” style pumpkin waffles or 8 small square waffles

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg*
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk ( I subbed in Vanilla no sugar added almond milk)
• 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

(• 1 vanilla bean scraped in (add to the milk/egg/pumpkin mixture).........)

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and warm

*Grated and lightly packed into the spoon, use 1/2 tsp. Grated and loosely scooped, this is about 1 tsp. of nutmeg. If you have to use pre-grated, dried nutmeg, use 1/4 tsp.

DIRECTIONS

1. Lightly oil the waffle iron with vegetable oil, and set it to the desired temperature.

2. Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Whisk together to break apart the cornstarch. Add the remaining dry ingredients, and whisk to blend.

3. Separate eggs: yolks go in a medium sized bowl and whites get set aside in a smaller bowl.

4. Add pumpkin and milk to the egg yolks. Whisk to blend and set aside.

5. Whip egg whites with a hand mixer on high until stiff peaks form – about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Set aside.

6. Pour melted butter into the yolk/milk/pumpkin mixture. As you pour, whisk to combine.

7. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix them together until just combined. A little lumpiness is fine. That will smooth out when the egg whites are added.

8. Slide the whipped egg whites out of the bowl and onto the mixture you just prepared. Gently fold them in until no white bits are obvious.

9. Once the waffle iron is heated, you’re ready to pour the batter! I continued to cook them until they were a nice golden brown color and a little crispy. They are much more moist and do take a little bit longer.

Yum.

Wedding Venue

We've finally picked our wedding venue! It took a lot of going back and forth but in our hearts we knew we'd only be happy having our wedding at the Marvimon in Downtown LA.

It is exactly what I have always envisioned for what my wedding would be!

Beautiful greenery and exposed brick walls but with lots of kitschy areas.


*all pictures borrowed from all over the web

Weekend Round Up

I might have had the laziest weekends of weekends. I did manage to make it out of my house for Zumba, a manicure and the farmers market but that is about it. For some reason I needed to catch up on some major z's. It was actually really nice to relax at home for once!

This picture is the only proof I made it out! Taken in front of our favorite little french restaurant having an iced latte while waiting for a friend to hit the Mar Vista Farmers Market! I'm stoked to go to this farmers market! They have organic, sustainably farmed seafood, beef, poultry, goat, lamb, eggs and raw milk! Plus lots of organic/sustainable fruit and veggie farmers! It feels good to shop local and support my farmers.

Friday!

Today is Friday and I can't wait for the weekend!

Also, a big Happy Birthday to my best friend in the world! I wish I could be celebrating your birthday with you in SF but I'll be sending lots of good wishes your way from LA!

Elderflower Soda

Last week when we had out of town visitors we went to the Galco's the soda pop store. Its a store dedicated in its entirety to soda and old fashioned candy (and a little bit of boozey). I've been there a bunch of times but its always fun to go and pick up a few new flavors. I tried the Elderflower Soda because recently I've discovered I'm a huge fan of St. Germain which is made from the elderflower.

via. exp. realm:wurstkuche

Here's a great little music video that Greg Laswell filmed in Galco's. At the 1:10 mark you can see the owner walk by in his apron!



Last night I cracked open the Elderflower and thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Addam's Family

With Halloween only a month or so away all fun things of fall are showing up again - pumpkin lattes, fall leaves, pumpkins, and fun movies such as the Addam's Family! Who doesn't love little Christina Ricci who was in that movie at 11!

I need to dig out my Halloween Movie collection today - Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, The Addam's Family and I'm sure there're more! Any suggestions?

How fun is this fashion based off the Addam's family movies?


How sexy is Morticia! I love her eye makeup and long red nails.
*All photo's via weheartit.com

Vanilla, Pear and Fig Jam

I had one last batch of fresh figs to use so I made another batch of jam. I walked around the grocery store with a bunch of different types of fruit but nothing caught my eye until I saw the crimson red pears and knew they were meant to be together.



My recipe was basically the same as the one for my rhubarb and fig jam except I had only 13 cups of fruit rather than the 16 cups I had before. I just followed the directions loosely again from pomona pectin and when the jam was almost done I added to big gluggs of vanilla to the pot and stirred. I tasted a couple of times to see what level of vanilla I wanted. Not to perfumey but enough to add another layer to the flavor.

My favorite way to eat this is over some vanilla bean ice cream. Yum.

Rhubarb and Fig Jam

The saga of the never ending figs continues......I had another big batch to use and rather than make a cake that would disappear in a day I made jam that would disappear in a day! I realized how much I love to cook as I stirred the moltenous pot (see injury picture below)of fig and rhubarb until it was just a goey sticky lava. I then stretched my design skills and made pretty kraft paper labels to go on top of the jars.


I made 2 big jars of jam - one for us and one for my boss who has been supplying me with the figs.


There was something so satisfying as stacking up all my labeled jars and looking at them.


But it wasn't all glitz and glam. A blob of jam lept out of the pot and landed on my skin leaving me with a nasty jam burn that coincidentally looks like an exclamation mark!

My recipe was based off this website and I used this pectin (which is sold at my whole foods). I have another batch of figs and trying to decide what to do with those!

Laguiole Knives

An oldie but a goodie! I'm crushing hard on these Laguiole knives. One of our favorite french restaurants has a giant stock in these knives. I've had everything from the pearl, stainless steel and neon. J'adore Laguiole!

Fig and Thyme Cake Recipe

Last week, I was given a ton of figs and I've been eating them on my yogurt but we just couldn't eat them fast enough so I started looking up recipes for figs and I found a bunch of delicious ones but they were time consuming - whip egg whites, separate this, blah blah, and I'm making this at 8 p.m. after working a 10 hour day. I wasn't into complicated and I remembered my favorite cake recipe for a pear cardamom cake. I interchange the pears for figs and the cardamom for thyme. It is fantastic.

figs sitting in the brown sugar and butter mixture

Fig and Thyme Upside-Down Cake
Serves 8

1 1/2 cups flour (i used cake flour which required 3 more tablespoons)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 - 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme (this is to taste - I added almost 2 based off how the flour and thyme smelled together. I didn't want it to be overpowering but I wanted it to be noticeable)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, divided
3/4 cup packed golden brown sugar
10 small figs sliced into discs (I covered my entire cake with discs of figs so depending on the size you might need more or less)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
black pepper (optional)

Whipping Cream (optional)
pint of heavy whipping cream
sugar -to taste

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-1 1/2-inch round cake pan.

2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Stir in the thyme and set aside.

3. Melt one-fourth cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until the sugar has melted and combined with the butter. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan, spreading it to reach the sides.

4. Cut the figs, cut into discs and discard the stems. Arrange the figs in a circle around the cake pan, starting at the center and working outwards. Sprinkle with a dash of pepper (optional). Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

5. Beat the remaining one-half cup butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed. Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, beating after each addition just until combined.

6. Gently spoon the cake batter on top of the figs, smoothing out to the edge of the pan and making sure the cake batter fills in around the pears.

7. Bake until the top is a deep golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Place the cake on a rack to cool for 5 minutes in the pan.

8. Run a small spatula or knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a cake plate, leaving the pan on the cake for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature

9. Make whip cream, pour pint of heavy whipping cream into bowl and add sugar to taste (usually 1-2 tablespoons) and whip with either hand mixer or stand mixer until cream becomes thick and fluffy.

10. Serve, wait for everyone's mouth's to drool while you're plating up this sugary, figgy cake and service with a big dollop of homemade whipped cream.

The only slightly sad warning is this cake doesn't last if you don't eat it past the second day. It might have lasted longer in the fridge but its so moist that it will turn before you can eat it all!

Food Porn - Pan Fried Duck

I love cooking and for me it is like a mental yoga. When the day has been bad or things aren't going the way I planned I can go to the kitchen and cook. Very rarely do things turn out bad. Somethings not as planned but not bad. Recently, Leslie, had posted about an asparagus salad that they had created the recipe via video. This led me to start reading Kinfolk Journal. Which is like the playboy of food journals. It's an amazing website and magazine that documents amazing food and the people that make it. I instantly knew that I need to make this recipe.

I took one measly little photo on my iphone. I was really too hungry to try and photograph it well and to be honest the video is amazing. Why try to recreate it!

Summer Corn Salad Recipe

A few weeks ago when I was in San Francisco, we stopped at an awesome pizza place in my girlfriends neighborhood; Delfina Pizza. To be honest, the pizza is good but their side entrees really stole the spotlight this past trip for me. We ordered sand dabs ( mini fish deep fried) and a summer corn salad. I've been thinking about making the corn salad ever since which I finally did this past weekend twice.

Summer Corn Salad
serves 2
1 large ear of corn - shave off the corn with either a knife or a cool corn tool
1-2 small kumato tomatoes (mine were fairly small maybe 2 inches across) - chopped
2 large handfuls of arugula - washed (or several websites call for basil
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon onion - finely chopped

-Shave the corn off the cob and place in a small mixing bowl.
-Finely chop the onion and add to the corn.
-Cut the tomatoes into smallish pieces (or if using cherry tomatoes I would halve or quarter if possible) and add to the corn/onion mixture
-Toss the corn/onion/tomatoes with a bit of good olive oil (I probably used 2 teaspoons)
-Season the corn/onion/tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste
-In the final step, make sure to mix the corn, tomato, and onion mixture well to blend the olive oil into the salad
Place the arugula on the plates and spoon the corn mixture over
*Another option would be to mix the arugula into the corn mixture if that is what you prefer I would add the arugula by sight. Using probably only 1 large handful vs the 2 handfuls.

There are tons of summer corn salad recipes online but a lot of them call for boiling the corn to remove the starch. I didn't and I loved the summery sweet taste of the raw corn. This recipe was sort of made up of what I liked from other people's recipes so feel free to modify! Let me know if you try something new and yummy!

SFO

I'm SFO bound in a few days to spend a much needed Girls Weekend with my Best Friend.

via we heart it . com

I simply can't wait to spend the weekend with her! Its incredibly hard not living near each other but luckily she's just up the coast and not across the world!

Even though I've been there a handful of times we always find new exciting places to try! Please let me know if you have any must see spots!

P.S. Read about my past trips to SFO here

Diner en Blanc

Say what? Diner en Blanc was a night in Paris where 10,000 people all dressed in white and brought their own picnic to the Louvre and Notre Dame.


via flickr

How amazing would this be? The most amazing part is it was all started by spreading word by word of mouth. Everyone was a friend of someone.