and while we're being honest...

have you been living in your house for 8 months and are scared to put things on the walls???

you may have New Home Decorating Phobia...

but seriously, i read about it here.

for real. blog blog.. read.. save pictures.. blog.. read... picture, west elm browse, blah blah bloggity ... cant make a decision because even tho the walls are bare as bollocks they are at least perfect in their boring simplicity. so many options, lets narrow it down...ish.

ceiling medallions turned wall installation?

source

giant pictures

source

sharpie fun wallpaper

source

so many choices and so little time... er... so few... commit.. something.

shhhhhhhhhhhh....

source

what?

you dont want to brush all that under the rug and pretend it was a poor attempt at blogging? come on... lets talk about how we're over winter and act like its spring '11. 2009 was a bajillion years ago and anything that happened back then doesnt count, right? i mean other than getting married that year... and... selective... interweb.. history? whatevs. i'm not promising anything- which is exactly what you look for in a blog, right? indecision and infrequency.. no this isnt a commercial for depends. its me being right down sarcastic about how often i'll be keeping this business up. i realize that..well...

it'd be a lot cooler if i did..

but... we'll see how far my photo library, re-allocated time and a lot of dot dot dots get us...

i mean, if the cool kids are still blogging 2 years later it cant be all that bad, right????

RO Brewery's Grilled Cheese and Cream of Tomato Soup PART 2

I forgot to mention how much we love RO Brewery. And that this is one of my favorite meals there... and that is why we decided to make this at home. Obv. the soup recipe is from SK. But the grilled cheese- we kind of just shot from the hip.

I apologize in advance that I am not going to give better instructions regarding amounts of ingredients to start with...

The Goods:

Bread (we used texas toast)

Fontina Cheese (2 slices per sandwich)

Bacon (4 pieces of cooked bacon per sandwich- crispy is better)

Granny Smith Apples sliced (1 apple was enough for 4 sandwiches)

Butter

Large non-stick skillet or griddle

What to Do:

Start the grilled cheese as your normally would- butter each piece of bread and and lay butter side down on a nonstick skillet. Add a slice of cheese to the top of each piece of bread.

Normally- for grilled cheese you would put down the bread, add the cheese, and top with the 2nd piece of bread. But the key with making these sandwiches, is to not add the apples and bacon until as late as possible. Otherwise the apples will dry out and the bacon will not be as crispy. SO- you are going to need to cook the top and the bottom pieces of each sandwich simultaneously.

So, cook cheese topped bread until the bottom of each is golden brown. Add the apple slices and bacon, and top with the other piece of cooked bread. Cook for no more than another minute to let the cheese, bread, and goods melt together.

Remove from heat, slice diagonally and enjoy with your favorite soup!

M's spaghetti bake

This is one of the first meals that M ever cooked for me. We had been dating for about a month and I was beyond impressed that he could cook anything- let alone a meal that wasn't originally frozen. I already knew- but this solidified his status as a 'keeper'.

These are his directions- as told to me... {i'm inserting details along the way}

Goods:

3/4 lb. spaghetti

1 small can of chopped mushrooms

1 lb hamburger [we use a little more]

24 oz jar of spaghetti sauce

2 c. mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. parmesan cheese (we use the powdery kind in a bottle]

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

8*8 baking dish

Here's what to do: {michael says to "do this all at the same time"}

PREHEAT oven to 350F

1. in a pot, boil the pasta as directed, then drain and set aside.

2. brown hamburger.

3. while hamburger is browning, in a third sauce pan- over low-med heat combine pasta sauce, mushrooms and crushed red pepper, bring to a simmer but do not boil.

4. when hamburger is browned throughout- drain. using a couple of paper towels- carefully wipe the skillet out removing the grease and bits. [it doesn't have to be perfectly clean- just free of most of the grease.]

5. return the hamburger to the skillet, add in pasta sauce mixture and stir to combine.

6. in the baking dish, create the first layer with half of the pasta, then half of the hamburger pasta sauce mixture. evenly sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella, then dust with 1/4 c. parmesan.

DO NOT STIR, leave the pasta, sauce, and cheese as layers.

7. add the remaining pasta, layer with remaining sauce, and finish off with the last of the cheeses.

8. cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 25-30m.

9. remove aluminum foil and bake for another 5 or so minutes until the cheese on top is browned a bit.

10. remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

"ENJOY"

new discoveries at neimans.

for those of you who use mineral foundation, prepare for the mess to end. you know what i'm talking about. loose powder foundation all over your counter (purse, hands, sink, ect). you're cursing that miserable little piece of plastic which is supposed to keep this from happening. sounding familiar yet?

yesterday i made a stunning discovery; laura mercier now has mineral pressed powder foundation! pressed? no mess? YES. the powder can be applied with a brush for sheer coverage or with a sponge for medium coverage. i went sheer today and am enjoying a shine-free day so far.

also, for the holidays, the Baked Eye Colour Palette. 5 sweet shades that will prep almost anyones lids for the season. the set also includes a double ended applicator which fits perfectly inside for a woman on the move. at least my face is ready for the festivities. (:

RO Brewery's Grilled Cheese and Cream of Tomato Soup PART 1

This will be a two part post. I cannot possibly explain all this during my lunch. This soup was exactly what we needed to push into what will probably be a very long winter. I mean, the leaves are gone and the temperatures are freezing, I think that means winter. Right? So, lets stay warm.

The Goods:

2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice, drained, 3 cups juice reserved [I used RedGold and had exactly 3 cups of juice left over]
1 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar [I used regular brown sugar]
4 TBS unsalted butter
4 large shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1 TBS tomato paste
Pinch ground allspice [i used two dashes]
2 TBS all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cup chicken stock, low-sodium
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 TBS brandy or dry sherrySalt and cayenne pepper [I added ground black pepper too]

*we used Christian Brothers or something like that for Brandy. It was about $5 for a small bottle and I've been drinking the rest of the bottle with hot apple cider- so it wont go to waste. What? I'm being green.

What to do:

Prep:

-Preheat oven to 450F

-Get out a "rimmed" baking sheet and line with foil... set near by- you'll need it shortly.

1. Set a strainer over a large bowl, and empty in the contents of the cans of tomatoes. Using your hands, (gently) open up the tomatoes and push out the seeds and juice. Spread the now seedless tomatoes onto the foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with brown sugar. In the end- all the juices and seeds should be in the bowl- and all the tomatoes should be on the sheet. Now, sprinkle the tomatoes with the brown sugar and bake for about 30M.

[when 30M is up... or all the juices have evaporated, remove the sheet, let the tomatoes cool and then remove from the sheet to a bowl.]

2. While tomatoes are cooking, in a Large sauce pan, [this is the pan all the soup is going into eventually], heat the butter until foaming [not boiling].

Add shallots, tomato paste, and all spice.Turn the heat down to low, cover and continue cooking and and stirring until shallots are soft. [they are small and it will be hard to tell, but I stopped at 7M].

Stir in flour and continue to stir/cook for about 30 or so seconds.

Slowly add chicken stock, stirring or whisking continually to combine.

Stir in reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes.

Cover- bring to a boil.

Reduce to low and simmer for about 10M.

Continue to stir [and smell the deliciousness] while simmering.

**at this point you should know that we deviated from the recipe which I VERY RARELY do. The original recipe says to pour the mixture through a strainer, blend solids, and then put it ALL back in the pan. So, we just blended everything. If you want to stick to the "rules" then kindly check out SK for that version. Otherwise, continue with me and your soup will still rock.

3. Pour entire contents of the pan into a blender- be careful not to overflow. Blend until the desired consistency is achieved. Return it all to the pan, stir in the heavy cream and reheat over low(ish) until hot enough for you.

4. Remove from heat, stir in the brandy and season with cayenne and black pepper.

5. you know...

MANGIAMO

**a few side notes. this soup has a little kick to it. my eyes didn't water or anything like that, but it definitely warmed me up. which will be helpful when we really are in winter and it is -20F during the day. (: also, SK says that this soup will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container and when you reheat- do not bring to a boil.

french onion via smitten kitchen

i used to hate french onion soup. i'm not sure exactly why- i think it was the cheese sticking to my spoon which weirded me out beyond measure. BUT. from the moment i tried it from HERE... i just can get enough.

i obviously trust pretty much anything that comes from SK. she's my kitchen gospel. our palette's haven't quite graduated to her level... but we're trying. and so should you... :) here's our take on her recipe- which is actually from Julia Child. follow?

goods:

FOR SOUP

1 1/2 lbs or about 5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions
3 TBS butter
1 TBS oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
3 TBS flour
2 qts boiling brown stock, [canned beef bouillon, or 1 quart of boiling water and 1 quart of stock or bouillon would work]
1/2 c dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons cognac
Rounds of hard-toasted French bread

1 to 2 cups grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese

FOR CHEESY BREAD TOPPING

2OZ. Swiss cheese cut into slivers (about as wide as a pencil)

1 TBS grated onion (raw)

1 loaf crunchy French Bread (sliced and toasted well)

1/2 grated Swiss

what to do:

1. in a stainless steel pot, cover and cook the onions with butter and oil (15m or so)

2. remove lid and crank up the heat to MED. and stir in sugar and salt. continue to stir and cook for an additional 30-40m until onions are golden brown throughout.

[at this point you might want to start boiling that brown stock bouillon or whatever in a separate pot]

3. add flour to onions and stir for 3m more.

4. remove from heat and stir in boiling stock. add white wine and salt and pepper.

5. return to heat and simmer for 30-40m.

[continue to stir, taste, and season]

** Preheat oven at this time to 325F

6. bring to a boil and divide into soup tureens or pots.

7. stir in grated onion and slivered cheese.

8. gently add slices of toast to the top of the soup-no need to submerge- and add grated cheese to top.

9. spritz with oil or butter and...

10. bake for 20m, then broil for a minute or two.

11. remove from oven and of course...

Mangiamo!