Alas, The End of The Holidays

It finally dawned on me yesterday that the holiday season has come to an end. A sigh of relief? Perhaps. It was a good holiday season though, different, but good. And now I find myself drowning in work (which is a good thing.. I suppose) and realizing I haven't taken a break to post a blog is god knows how long. Yes, my blog is stating to resemble my grade school diary in which every entry begins with "Wow, a lot has changed sense the last time I wrote in here". So here we are, a photo entry on what has changed...

My Uncle Jon taught me how to use my new camera

The Macdonalds and Porters united for a post-Christmas feast

And I do mean feast...

I tested out my mom's crab cake recipe (still amazing might I add)

Not bad, not bad at all.

Yes, I'm writing a blog about pizza.

Because it was damn good. And homemade! I was in the mood for pizza the other night but I'm so tired of either spending $30 for a "gourmet" pizza or spending $5 for a crappy one. The solution was simple and easy, pre-made dough from Trader Joe's and a few simple ingredients and viola! a homemade gourmet pizza and salad.

The pizza:

Mozzarella, roasted red bell peppers, spinach, roasted garlic and olive oil.

Friendsgiving

Ahhh, finally the Thanksgiving madness has ended and I have time to write about the Friendsgiving we hosted last week. Sadly though, looking through my pictures I didn't take as many thought out ones has I should have, a really just ended up with a batch of blurry photos, but hey, it was a bit of a blurry evening after all.

All in all thought, the Friendsgiving was a success, filled with two deep fried turkeys, mac-n-cheese, will's squash stuffing, jalapeno cornbread and my roasted garlic mashed potatoes. I'm always amazed how 22 people can come together and actually sit down and eat a meal together and have it work so seamlessly. It was the largest Friendsgiving to date and I was more than happy to host them....but maybe not again for another year.

Followed Blogs

I have slightly engulfed myself in a few blogs that I can't keep my eyes off of and so I thought I would share them. The first is from a woman in San Francisco who's style I absolutely adore. She honestly makes me want to fly to San Francisco just to ransack her apartment... just kidding. kind of. The blog, which is sub-titled "bohemian modern style form a San Francisco girl" says it all, it has everything from interior design to photography to crafts and recipes. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous and hope to be half as cool some day... You can check it out at www.sfgirlbybay.com, and I strongly recommend you do.

The second blog which I adore is one that my lovely friend (and roommate!) Camille showed me, is design sponge, another one of those inspirational blogs which makes you want to completely redecorate your whole house. The section which is by far my favorite thought is the "before and after" which is of course was the source of inspiration for my lamps. Again, if you're feeling like you need a change in your interior, or just want inspiration I encourage you to check it out.

Ugly Bookcases???

So I'm working from home today because my lovely car decided it wasn't in the mood to sit in traffic this morning. That said I'm on my couch with my coffee table/desk half working and half par-oozing design sites...

Last week I was re-arranging the dining room and cramming as many books as possible into my built-in book case, when I started thinking about the art of bookcases. I was trying to figure out why the bookcases crammed with books in, say, the Ikea catalogue are so pretty and mine just looked crammed with books. I suddenly realized it's because Ikea is cheating! All the books are the same color!

I don't know about you, but I generally buy books for their content, not their spine color. So what to do as a normal consumer who has books in every color? Well today I found something kind of cool, maybe a little over the top OCD, but I think it's pretty sweet, book jackets! FInally a away to make your books uniformly beautiful as they sit on your shelf, like a piece of art! Sure, you can't figure out which book is which on your shelf, but in the name of art, a lot of things don't make any sense, but they look nice.

All of these awesome jackets can be seen/purchased at http://www.bookcityjackets.com/

Before and After: Lamps from Value Village

before

during

after!

So I finally finished a project which I started weeks ago, giving some sweet lamps I found at Value Village an update. I found these god-awful gold lamps for $7.99 each and envisioned the perfect before/after project. Needless to say I have been following http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/before-and-after which has so many projects on it, it makes me want to repaint/cover everything in my house. In fact, I have been surfing Craig's List like a nut looking for anything with potential. Sadly nothing has come out of that yet, but I'm sure I'll find something. In the mean time, I would have to say my first little make over project went well, and I'm pretty happy with the results. The total cost was about $35 including new lamp shades from Target, craft paper from Paper Zone and a half gallon of paint which I used about a quarter of. Not bad eh?

Mom's Pesto

I finally got around to making my mom's pesto recipe, something which I've been meaning to make for a long time. She has always told me how simple it was to make, but I honestly didn't believe her. Needless to say, I had two huge basil plants and the night off so I decided to give it a whirl. The first thing to recognize when making pesto is it's going to take you about 5 times the basil that you think it will. Our plants were about 2 feet high and are now reduced to stumps after the pesto phenomena.

What I love about getting recipes from my mom thought is how much guessing is involved. Nothing is ever measured in cups and teaspoons, but instead is given in measurements of "a ton", "a little" or "you know, just taste it". As frustrating as that may seem, I actually enjoy it. It teaches to not just read a recipe, but to really figure it out on your own. In this case, the "recipe" is simple and the end result is amazing.

Start with a "ton" of basil, chop as finely as possible, mix with a "good amount" of chopped almonds (much cheaper than pine nuts and just as good), a "shit load" of garlic, a "good amount" of olive oil, a "good amount" of salt, and a "little bit" of pepper. Then honestly, taste it, see what more is needs, and blend it on chop mode for a few minutes to get everything blended together a bit better (something my mom doesn't believe in, but hey), and mix in a parmesan cheese.

Seriously, the easiest and most delicious pesto ever. Serve with a salad, bread and wine (or Rainier if you prefer) and you have a "damn good" dinner.