Thanksgiving Trifecta

This year we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our home. My responsibility was the Thanksgiving trifecta - turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I kept things as simple as possible, given Thursday was my only day off from work. I cut a few corners with packets of gravy and potatoes made the day before so that my focus on Thursday could be cooking the turkey and enjoying our company! Bagheera, our cat, was happy to keep the seats warm for our guests.

Agrodolce // Wedding Anniversary II

Aloha friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? We've had more visitors than we can count over the past few weeks and months. Between house guests Bryce and I managed to sneak off to a nice dinner to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary at Agrodolce, known for their Organic Sicilian Cuisine. We went to Sicily on our honeymoon, right around our first anniversary, so it was more than appropriate.

 

Seattle Summer and Polish Festival

We have been enjoying a summer full of visitors and great eats. Aunt Slynn stopped by for a few weeks and the adventures were never ending. A trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without a stop to Pike Place Market, a coffee in hand, and a visit to Rachel the pig! 

[After] The Green Kitchen

Have you been holding your breath anxiously awaiting the after photos of our crazy apple wallpaper kitchen? Believe me, I was anxious to remove the colorful fruits and put my own touch on the kitchen. Please enjoy the photos of our apple turned GREEN kitchen!

The mini-makeover consisted of removing the border and wallpaper then priming and painting. It's amazing what a can (or two) of paint can do!

[Before] The Apple Kitchen

Last November we bought our very first home in Seattle, Washington. It was built in 1948 and we love the location, size, and charm of the house most of all. It's got many classic and beautiful elements including original hardwood floors, arched doorways, and large picture windows.

The kitchen is the heart of the home, they say. Ours, however, was severly lacking in the appearance department! Functional - yes. Spacious - yes. Ugly - YES. Please enjoy the before photos, taken the day we got our keys, prior to the mini kitchen makeover.

There are three doors leading into the kitchen. If you walked in through the front door this would likely be the way you'd enter. How do you like those apples?!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Hello there friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been cooking like crazy but haven't found the time to put together a proper post for you. After modifying my recipe no less than 6 times, I'm finally ready to share with you this homemade taco seasoning.

Florida

This year has been a big one for birthdays amongst my people. Mom and Dad both turned 60 and Bryce turned 30. To celebrate their "150th Birthday" we spent a week together in Siesta Key, Florida. (Prior to my move to Hawaii, that's where our family vacationed on the regular.) We got right down to the fun having immediately with a trip to the Daiquiri Deck just hours after we arrived!

Back Home and Zucchini Noodles

We're back home from a wonderful and long vacation to Siesta Key, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (my home). Bryce and I were away for 13 days and were eating and drinking all the while! There wasn't a bar, restaurant, coffee shop, ice cream store, etc., that we didn't visit.

We're just as happy to be home in Seattle as we were to embark on an adventure, although now we need to get our consumption in check! We're hitting the brakes on eating out, slowing down on the drinking, and getting back into the habit of cooking in our own kitchen.

Earlier this week I made overnight crockpot oatmeal for the second time! I have a few more tweaks to make to the recipe and will hopefully post it in the next few weeks. We've eaten it for breakfast each day to fuel the healthy train!

Dinner During Lent - Tomato Pesto Pizza

Do our plans get in the way of our lives? Or, do our lives get in the way of our plans? Either way you look at it, we humans get overly busy from time to time. That I'm sure we can all agree upon. Being busy makes me hungry! Less time to cook, less time to eat, increased likelihood of jamming 4 doughnuts/tacos/grande cappuccinos into my face in a hurried mess. Don't do that, though, it's not good for your sanity or your blood pressure.

My favorite bloggers are those who are most honest and transparent about life's ups and downs. It's easy to speak to the 'ups' although the 'downs' are where I'm able to truly relate to people as actual human beings, know what I mean?

That all being said, I vowed to make a different meat free meal every Friday, right? Sounds fun! Except when it's Friday and my colleagues want to go to happy hour and my husband is at the gym. Then, on the way home, we stop to pick something up from a friend. We run in the house, quickly, to retrieve the borrowed item. We get to meet her Mom, and her brother, and the dog! 45 minutes later we're on the way home to relax... NO, we need to make that meat-less meal! Luckily I'd planned something quite simple. Tomato Pesto Pizza is our 4th Dinner During Lent recipe and it's the easiest yet.

T Rex Cake - Happy 30th Bryce!

My husband, Bryce, turned 30 this weekend. We spent 3 glorious days in Whistler [British Columbia, Canada] with 8 of our friends. We ate, drank, skied and/or snowboarded, and enjoyed this delicious and hilarious cake!

Traditional Irish Breakfast

Last year we were able to visit Ireland. We spent the most of our time in the large city of Dublin, although we also adventured to the smaller towns of Bunratty, Doolin, and Galway. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day please allow me to share with you my most favorite meal of the trip.

Dinner During Lent - Shrimp and Black Bean Enchiladas

It's part 3 of Dinner During Lent, where I'm cooking a different meat-free meal for every Friday during the 40 days leading up to Easter.

Part 1 was simple and quick - pierogies and asparagus
Part 2 was a recipe we brought all the way back from Sicily - pasta con le sarde

That brings us to the present, part 3, Shrimp and Black Bean Enchiladas. That's right, we're straying away from my staple of pasta. Polish pierogies then Italian spaghetti, it's time for a change.

The original recipe is from the 1998 Mayo-Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook which I scored at a Goodwill Store in Hawaii for anywhere between 99 cents and $2.50. Humble beginnings, right? I've made this recipe more times than I can count and it's about time I share it with you!

Dinner During Lent - Pasta Con Le Sarde

Welcome to part 2 of Dinner During Lent, where I'm cooking a different meat-free meal for every Friday during the 40 days leading up to Easter. This year is seems fast food chains are geared up for Lent and even inviting the Pope to join them!

Part 1 included a simple dinner of pierogies and asparagus. This recipe has much more history and work to be done!

Last year when we (Bryce and I) traveled to Europe, the part I was most looking forward to was our cooking class in Sicily. There we learned to cook the esteemed Sicilian dish of Pasta Con Le Sarde, or Pasta with Sardines. It's made with fresh sardines, which are abundant on the island, and wild fennel which only grows in Sicily. On our first night in Sicily I had Pasta Con Le Sarde in a restaurant before learning how to make it the following day in our cooking class.

During our class the English-speaker/tour operator recorded the recipe for us while the Italian-speaker cooked and dictated to him. I didn't take a good look at the notes until just recently while planning to remake the recipe. Mamma Mia is all I can say, here's what they said: 

Dinner During Lent - Ash Wednesday - Pierogies and Asparagus

It's Ash Wednesday, or a Friday in Lent, what's for dinner?

Immediately I imagine my Mom's Tuna Noodle Casserole! A close second is, of course, a fish sandwich. I'm trying to get creative this year with a different meat-free meal each week and calling the project Dinner During Lent.

On Ash Wednesday we kept it very simple. We had pierogies with corn and shallots + roasted asparagus.

The Whale Wins

Who loves birthdays?

(Raising hand in the air, waving it frantically back and forth) Meeeeee!!

Birthdays 'round here are welcomed with open arms and, in the month of January, it's my turn to celebrate. On the 15th I celebrated turning 29 with Bryce at a restaurant called The Whale Wins in Fremont (Seattle). It's nested in a building that shares space between several restaurants and stores. The interior is full of fun and function alike.

Disney World Waffle Sandwiches

In November (2014) we made a family trip to Disney World in Florida. What began as two Grammies and my Mum (a non-Grammie) chatting over breakfast about bringing their grandkids to Disney one Sunday morning rapidly turned into a gang of 15 family members! With just 5 kids and 10 grown ups, we traveled from Hawaii, Washington, and Pennsylvania. There were Mommies and Grammies, Aunts, Uncles, Godparents, siblings, and cousins.