Weekend: Sing it Girl

Jessica Lea Mayfield, For Today

Friday: Discovery of the Week

I've begun to give some thought to how I would like to decorate my living room. Beyond the fact that I want taupe on the walls, I just couldn't pin down a color/idea theme. I think I may be getting there now...

The following images are inspiration for my living room... I'm thinking dreamy neutrals with pops of crisp navy (a teensy bit nautical) along with pops of peachy/coral for some added warmth and femininity. Thoughts?

Thursday: Image

Beautiful...

Wednesday: Film

Recently watched and really enjoyed this film...

Tuesday: Schtuff

Loving these towels and bath mat by Anthro right now...

Sechura Towels and Bathmat

Tuesday: Cooking at Home with Team Waspi/Wiles

There are definitely perks to working in a school, the obvious one being: summer break!!! This, I have discovered, is especially a perk when several of your good friends and your boyfriend enjoy this same perk because they also work in schools. Now, as much as I don't mean to complain about having my summers off, I have also noticed, as summer is winding down, that there are a couple of downfalls to having your summer off with your friends. Namely, I spent waaaayyy too much money on food and drink because I have all this crazy free time and, due to said food and drink, I have also gained a bit of "fluff" (if you know what I mean) .

It is for these reasons that my boyfriend and I (aka Team Waspi/Wiles) have decided to spend a lot more time in the kitchen this year. In order to make this "fall resolution" stick, we have decided to create a bi-weekly menu, where we will map out what we will make for dinner for two week time periods and then we will do our grocery shopping based on this menu. We've decided to rotate every two weeks so that we each get a chance to pick out some dishes we'd like to try while also splitting the grocery costs.

Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, here goes nothin'...

I had the opportunity to plan the first couple of weeks which started yesterday. Bascially, here's the plan:

Week 1:
Monday: Spicy, Garlicky Cashew Chicken & Asparagus with Cashews and Bacon (Clark, 2010)
Tuesday: Lasagna and Garlic Bread
Wednesday: Left-Overs
Thursday: Date Night, Eat Out
Friday: Not-My-Grandma's Chicken with Lemon, Garlic, and Oregano (Clark, 2010)
Saturday: Flank Steak on the Grill with Lime Marinade & Grilled Corn on the Cob (Martha Stewart Living Magazine, 2007)
Sunday: Left-Overs and/or Homemade Pizza

Week 2:
Monday: Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce (Martha Stewart Living Magazine, 2007)
Tuesday: Brats on the Grill and Mixed Greens Salad
Wednesday: Left-Overs
Thursday: Date Night, Eat Out
Friday: Pasta with Pesto, Potatoes & Green Beans (Martha Stewart Living Magazine, 2007)
Saturday: Garlic Marinated Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Potatoes (Martha Stewart Living Magazine, 2007)
Sunday: Left-Overs or Homemade Pizza

Basically the idea is to cook at home as much as possible while still being realistic (aka, we probably wouldn't survive two weeks without eating sushi, hence Date Night). Also, with all this cooking we assume some nights are going to be left-over nights (as much as I truly detest left-overs). Creating the menu made grocery shopping much easier, as I knew exactly what I needed and therefore, I hopefully won't end up wasting a bunch of groceries like I normally would. All things considered, our ten meals at home (not including drinks) ended up costing about $10/meal, or $5/person (or less considering most nights we will probably be accompanied by a friend or two and of course one hungry dog named George whom I may, or may not, allow to lick my plate occasionally).

Here is a little glimpse into the inaugural meal:

Spicy, Garlicky Cashew Chicken (recipe adapted from Clark, 2010)

1 cup roasted salted cashew nuts
2 T chopped fresh cilantro, with some stems
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 T soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno pepper roughly chopped
2 T water
Salt & Pepper
8-10 chicken drumsticks

1. Blend nuts, cilantro, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, lime juice, and jalapeno, and water in food processor till smooth.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and smear on the cashew mixture, just enough to coat the pieces. Set aside the remaining mixture. Let marinate while you prepare the grill (we ended up starting on the grill and ending with by roasting them in the oven at 450 because the grill was a little slow).
3. Grill and/or Roast the chicken turning frequently until crisp and golden on the outside and done on the inside, cut a piece to check if it is done. Because we used both the grill and the oven we ended up with the chicken on the grill for about 15-20 minutes and then we roasted them for another 20-30 or so.
4. Garnish chicken with lime wedges, extra chopped cilantro and use extra mixture for dipping.

Teammate Waspi also whipped up some asparagus with cashews and bacon (see below) while the chicken cooked (he is truly more the cook in the Waspi/Wiles team, which to be honest, I quite enjoy).


The final result!


Yum!


Of course we polished off a bottle of vino while we cooked and ate... cooking tends to take us awhile...


All in all, night one was a huge success. I wish I could waft the smell of the sauce through my computer to yours; it was fantastic. We are definitely still beginners when it comes to cooking, but we are having a blast, saving money and hopefully becoming a bit more healthy in the process.

References:

Clark, M. (2010). In the kitchen with a good appetite: 150 recipes and stories about the food you love. New York: HarperCollins.

Martha Stewart Living Magazine. (2007). Everyday food: Great food fast. New York: Clarkson Potter.

Monday: DIY Project

Sing it with me now, "Everybody who's a slacker raise your hand, woo woo, everybody who's a slacker raise your hand!" I know, I know... I've been very neglectful of the good ol' blog lately... but I will try to do better, starting with today's post about my most recent (I say that like I do things like this a lot) DIY project! Yay!!!!

I was inspired recently by something that was being sold on etsy.com (if you don't know what this is, go there IMMEDIATELY). It was a cork board covered in fabric and framed by an antique painted frame. Needless to say, it had my name written alllll over it. The more I thought about though, as uncrafty as I am, I figured I could try to make it myself. And that's exactly what I did (with a little help of course).

So, here's the supplies we used:


1. An old frame
2. Off-white spray paint in a satin finish
3. Burlap, which we bought at Hobby Lobby (Beware: this is a dangerous store when you are in a DIY mood). You could also use other fabrics if you wanted a different look.
4. A somewhat heavy duty stapler
5. Cork board.... or cardboard will do really as we quickly discovered that all cork board is nowadays is cardboard covered up with a thin sticky sheet of cork board look-a-like (ahh, what is this world coming to??)

Not pictured: X-acto knife, scissors, marker, some sort of measuring device, little nails, a hammer, and pretty push pins :)

So, basically, it was a fairly simple project (I say this because my partner in crime quite honestly did most of the work). So anyways, we spray painted the old frame earlier on and let it dry. Then we took the frame off the "cork board" and cut it to size. Next we cut a piece of burlap the size of the cork board with about an extra two inches each way.


Then, we laid down the burlap on a table with the cork board over it (upside down) and pulled the fabric taught, one edge at a time, and stapled the burlap to the back of the board (being careful to make sure we weren't stapling into the table, haha). Finally, we laid the board, which was now covered in burlap, into the back of the frame and used 4 small nails to nail it into place in the corners. All that was left to do then was to nail a small nail into the wall in the desired location and hang that bad boy.

And, voila!!


It's a great addition to my new "office" area in the living room.