Asheville

We have been dying to get out of town.  Just a little trip to refresh, rest and re-connect.  Seeing as we are so close to the mountains, we decided to head to Asheville for a night.  We planned to shop, eat and hike, however, the weather decided to change our plans.  It was cold and rainy, so all we really got to do was eat, sleep and watch movies, activities that are relaxing in their own way.

When we arrived, we ate lunch at Farm Burger.  A delicious trendy burger joint.  We stuffed ourselves with delight.  After relaxing the rest of the day, we ate dinner at Curate, a tapas bar.  The food was awesome, a bit more upscale. Dishes were filled with simple ingredients and robust flavors. The morning we left, we stopped at Green Sage, a coffee house that served breakfast.  All the restaurants were fantastic, I highly recommend all of them.

Farm burger.  My burger is pictured above.

Dark, but what up new glasses.

Pan con tomate. Bread and tomatoes at Curate.

Birthday Cakes

March is a big birthday month in my family. Both of my parents, along with Andrew have b-days in March.  With b-days on the mind, all I can think about is baking cakes! This past weekend my dad celebrated his 60th bday! Anyway, here is the cake I baked for him.

I used this lemon cake recipe, and altered it a bit.  I added about 2 tsp of lemon extract to give it a bit stronger of a flavor, along with 1/4 cup more of lemon juice. And I'm glad I did, because the lemon flavor was still subtle.  The cake turned out to be a bit denser than I would have liked, but overall I was pleased with the final product.

As for the icing, I made a cream cheese icing.  I don't normally use icing recipes, I just go by look and texture.  After making icing once a week for two years at a bakery, you get a feel for it.

To add a little texture and color to the cake, I toasted some sweetened coconut.  It added a nice little touch to the flavor and final decoration of the cake.

It's a New Year

Well it's 2014!  A new year, a fresh start, a chance to work on some things.

The first things I will be working on....this blog.

Yep, I said it!  I'm committing to writing one blog post per week, and you can send me hate mail if I don't. All 50 of you who read my blog :)

Since it has been far too long, I'm going to update you all on what has been going on in my life.  And since it is 2014, I'll give you 14 things going on in my life.



1. I got a new job!  I started about a month 1/2 ago and truly love it.  Life has actually been stress-free, a feeling I have not felt in a long time.

2. I am going to be an aunt!  Andrew's brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby.

3. We are heading to Italy in June for a week. This month I started working on my Italian so I can chat with the locals.  Currently working on food vocab, obviously the most important.

4. Chocolate cake has been a favorite dessert recently.

5. We joined the gym and got rid of cable.

6. Love this tea from Trader Joe's.

7. I love this cookbook I got for christmas.

8. Chocolate spice cookies I recently made. I made them into sandwiches. YUM.

10. Apple chips are a new obsession. The recipe is found in the cookbook mentioned in #7

11. I just got glasses! They look similar to this pair, but mine are from costco so yea....slightly different and bigger.

12. I recently made a duvet cover and curtains.

13. Im obsessed with the movie Frozen, and the soundtrack.  I love it so much, I can't even explain it. I'm currently waiting for the movie to come out in the dollar theater so I can see it again.

14.  Andrew and I head to Asheville this weekend to get away!  I'll put some pictures up once we get back.


Ok, one post per week to come!

NYC In A Day

Sadly, Andrew and I had to go to NYC last weekend for a funeral. The only upside to that trip was that we took a late flight out on Sunday and spent the day in the city. Here's what we did....

On the train into the city

Yay, we got to see my dear friend Briana!  She was kind enough to keep our luggage in her apartment as we went around the city.

Central Park

We rented bikes and rode all around the city.  Best part of the day.

View from the High Line

Babycakes cookie sandwich!

Fall So Far...

Andrew and I have fallen into a busy routine.  We would like to think that life will slow down.  But in the two years we have been married, we have always been "busy" and in some ways we just need to accept that this is our life.

Do you feel as thought being "busy" is your excuse for a great deal of things?  I know it is in our life, and we are trying to figure out how to work on that.  As we ponder one of life's biggest questions in our marriage, here are some things that have been present in our household recently.  Along with some pictures from our trip to the beach for Labor Day.

A few fun things first....

-The best pumpkin muffin recipe, Andrew loves them!

-Pumpkin chocolate chip bars

-This salad looks delicious

-More Pumpkin!  Pumpkin Chai, thanks TJ!

-Mmmmmm pancakes


Ok, now some Pictures.

Cucumber Cooler

I was dying for a fun drink today.  One that was chilled, refreshing, healthy and tasty.  I found a recipe for a cucumber drink in one of my cookbooks called Super Natural Every Day.  I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so I improvised and came up with this recipe:

1 cucumber, peeled

3 cups of ice

1/2 cup of water

1/4 cup of agave nectar (or honey)

3 leaves of basil

3 strawberries

Combine ingredients in a blender.  Enjoy!

*The original recipe calls for lime juice and honey, it did not have agave, basil or strawberries.  

Kale Waffles

Yes, it's true, we ate kale waffles for breakfast last week.  And let me tell you something, they were awesome!  Even Andrew loved them, which is saying something.  Thanks to my friend Shelley for sharing this wholesome and innovative recipe.  I also made a blueberry and peach compote to make the waffles a bit more special-- a.k.a-- we didn't have maple syrup or butter in the house.

The best part about this recipe is that you can freeze the waffles and put them in the toaster throughout the week for a quick breakfast.