Tasty

Sandwich Time

November 6, 2012

Sorry for the shoddy iPhone pictures of food… my eating habits look way less appetizing with the bad lighting/bland backgrounds and pixelated images… hopefully Santa will hook it up this year 🙂

anyway, despite the fact i am wishing away a pesky 10 pounds, the majority of my food choices are not reflecting that of “one on a diet.” instead my heart is telling me life is too short and to really have something to look forward to at lunch (a recently spent a work week on a liquid diet… work is bad enough without having to choose celery juice vs beet juice at 12pm).  therefore i have been making more of an effort to pack martha-esque lunches for myself…

a fab and easy favorite as of late are wraps and sandwiches.  growing up sandwiches were really never my thing but i’ve grown to appreciate the ease and convenience of one.  granted i stray from my hubbies favorite – turkey/cheddar/white bread (gasp i know)… but try a more gourmet approach – turkey/apple/white cheddar or tomato/basil/mozzarella with a balsamic glaze.  last week i had my all-time favorite adapted from a pizza my mom made for us – prosciutto, arugula, brie and fig jam… try it… i dare you not to enjoy!

Tasty

Halloween Menu

November 1, 2012

Last night was Jeremy and my first Halloween in our new home together… and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  We naively invited one of our favorite couples over – Erin and Craig to hang out and help us pass out candy… unfortunately we had no idea just how much help we were going to need.  Let’s just say – 3 hours of trying to cook, 500+ trick or treaters and 12 bags of candy, i was finally able to feed our wonderfully patient guests.

Opening the door for 4 year old princesses and superheros every 2 minutes is not conducive to creating a 3 course meal, but at least i can say i tried. here was my menu:

Starters:

– Cambozola Cheese stuffed Dates

– Cream Cheese Spread with Red Pepper Jelly and Crackers

Salad:

– Glazed Balsamic Fig and Red Butter Leaf Lettuce (too bad in the chaos i forgot to serve it)

Sides:

– Green Bean and Radish Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette  

– Pumpkin Risotto with Prosciutto

Entree:

– Pork Chops with a Dijon Butter Sauce

Dessert:

– Graveyard Dirt Cups (kicking it old school)

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween!

Domestic

Halloween Decor

November 1, 2012

I forgot to post a few things from my fall decor around the house…I’m not a huge halloween fan but wanted to transition my artwork, throw pillows, etc. to more fall tones (i got rid of the pinks and moved to the rusts/deep oranges).  I also decided to paint my pumpkins this year and used an awesome glitter paint from Martha Stewart to jazz up my gourds.  candles are a must this time of year and i’ll be lucky if i don’t burn the house down at some point… my favorite right now is my brown tory burch candle.  on a halloween i did decorate mummify my door (thank you pintrest!) which was a major hit with the 500+ kids that came through our neighborhood…

Travels

Weekend in Maui

October 31, 2012

*There have been some issues with my website transition, so please click here for the full post!

i would always say my favorite quote was “live your life to its fullest” (check out my fifth grade year book… there is proof!).  but it wasn’t until i met Jeremy that i actually started doing that.  we rarely say no, and therefore the past year and half has resulted in more frequent flyer miles than i know what to do with, and an expanding waistline – unfortunately the no’s also include decadent desserts and fun drinks (opps!).

to continue 2012 with a bang, we repacked our bags and jet set off to maui for the weekend (that sounded so much snottier than i wanted it to).  mom and dad were there for their annual romantic getaway, so it only made sense to crash their fabulous time!  we grabbed ta, and headed to kanaapali for a whirlwind weekend.

we took friday off and landed around 10am…  we grabbed mai tais and burgers (with pineapple…duh) at cheeseburger in paradise (i’d never been!), and then high-tailed it to the hotel to spend the rest of the day poolside.  after a few swims in the ocean we got ready and headed to kapalua for JB’s birthday dinner at merrimans… i mixed it up and had the ahi and ono for dinner (to die) and we over indulged with their “best of menu.”  a much more relaxing meal than the last time we were there (Jeremy proposed there :).

saturday we woke up early and headed to duke’s for macadamia nut pancakes and then walked to whaler’s village to catch the hula girl.  we spent the day on the yacht and enjoyed the amazing weather and insane snorkeling.  it was so great, even mom got in the water!  we had mahi with lobster sauce for lunch and mai tais on the ride back… our day concluded with cheering on the giants in game 3 of the world series (yay for the win!) at the hyatt.  we had dinner at the most gorgeous sushi restaurant there – japengo, and had a life changing meal.  we sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean and had a scrumptious meal (wagu filet?! sashami platter?! macadamia nut/mango sushi!?).  our epic day ended with a full on tsunami evacuation.  yes you read that right.  the island sounded the loudest sirens and anyone on ground levels had to evacuate.  nuts right?!

despite the absurd sirens sounded the majority of the night (update: the tsunami never hit the islands), i slept fine and woke up the next morning to quickly pack, grab breakfast beachside at castaways and begin the trek back home.

a quick 48 hours.. but sometimes your soul needs a hawaiian recharge 🙂