Thursday, September 19, 2013

Italian Wedding Soup

Last night’s rain and the recent cold weather inspired me to make soup for dinner last night; that, and watching Ina Garten make Italian Wedding Soup last week. I think I had only ever tried Italian Wedding soup once before and I was six. Clearly, I chose to not care for it because it wasn’t Campbell’s ‘chicken and stars’ soup. Unfortunately, for my six-year-old self, I have to say that last night’s soup has become a new favorite. It was delicious, easy, and extremely healthy. It’s the perfect soup to make a couple of days ahead of time and warm up in the crock-pot. We made these meatballs, but any favorite meatball would be perfectly fine. To make it vegetarian, simply sub out the meatballs for something you like: tomatoes, eggplant, tofu etc. With fall approaching, this soup will definitely be on my mind. 
{Soften a medium, yellow onion, a couple of carrots, and 3 stalks of celery-a traditional mille-poix-in a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil}
{Make the meatballs small enough to fit on your spoon}
{Add a box of chicken stock, 1 cup of dry, white wine, and 6 cups of water to the mille-poix; bring to a boil; Once boiling, add a box of small pasta-Ditalini, Orzo etc.}
{Cook meatballs at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until browned and cooked through}
{Add meatballs once pasta is cooked to Al-Dente}
{Add a few handfuls of baby spinach..it will reduce down quickly}
{Once  spinach is reduced, turn off the heat and serve immediately; if making soup a day or two before serving, do not add spinach until a few minutes before it is served to prevent wilted, over-cooked spinach}
{Add salt and pepper to taste}
{Serve with bread for dipping and accompany with a glass-or two- of the wine in the broth!}

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Mary Janes

Every time I am at a department store, I swing by the shoes and take a few minutes to dream. I know it’s cliché, but I really, really love shoes (seen here and here). During my last Nordstrom visit, I spotted these black, Manolo Blahnik Mary Jane pumps. I already have an affinity for all things black, but one can never have too many pairs of black pumps. They go with everything. I could pair them with jeans and a sweater, a lacy cocktail dress, or even a pair of nice leggings and an oversized trench. Unfortunately, I opted to not purchase them on account of my next bank statement, but I can’t stop thinking about them! What do you think?


P.S. These Mary Jane pumps would look great with this bag, this sweater, and these jeans. 
P.P.S. Jan 1st-Dec 31 I'd wear a large scarf like this, too. 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Fall Tray

Hello! I’m sorry for my long absence but I am back and blog posts will appear regularly. I while ago I found a pin on Pinterest about how to properly decorate and fill a tray. I took a stab at it and was surprisingly pleased with the results. The fall colors look beautiful in our dark dining room and I am happy every time I walk by the tray and see the small deer from Pier 1. I found maroon eucalyptus at our local Treasure Island and it took a week of me walking back and forth to succumb and buy some. I used the extra eucalyptus arrangements to decorate other areas of our apartment. It smells like fall and I can’t wait to experiment with a winter tray!What do you think? 






Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Pretzel Brats


I am sorry for my long absence, but the past week has been incredibly busy and I am afraid it will be the same for the next couple of weeks. That being said, I have realized that I do, in fact, need my blog to maintain sanity throughout chaos. About a week ago, we decided to make appetizers for dinner and we came across this recipe for pretzel brats. Once I got over my anxiety about making the dough from scratch, the process was fairly simple and the result was worth any hassle. We used our abundance of mustard for dipping and we will definitely be making these several times during Bears season!