All about food

I feel like Ryan and I have had some really good food lately and I just wanted to make a list of things so I don't forget them. Sorry this post will be boring and sans pictures. 

This past weekend we ate at the Pie Hole and wow. Such good sweet pies. The maple custard is a must get. I am drooling a little bit just thinking about it. The savory pie I had (curried veggie) was ok. But then again, I'm not much of a savory pie girl unless it's quiche. Ryan loved the chicken cornbread pie he had for lunch. I want to go back!

We also walked to this Italian restaurant in our neighborhood called Spumante. We've walked by it many times in the almost 4 years we've lived in our neighborhood, but always forgot to go back to it. I'm so glad we tried it out because it is so good! I had the cheese ravioli and it was the best cheese ravioli I've ever had. The marinara sauce was soooo good. 

Recipes we've been eating lately:

-This vegan queso is quite tasty. Even Ryan loves it - he even said if I hadn't told him it was vegan, he would have assumed it was cheese-based. Win! We liked it enough that I've made it a second time. 

- These pumpkin chocolate chip bars are delicious. I had a can of leftover pumpkin from Thanksgiving and decided to make these before Fall treats stop sounding good. They were a hit for sure. 

-Real Simple's chicken paella was so good. I used frozen chicken breast tenderloins (didn't even thaw them beforehand) in place of the chicken thighs, used a bit more smoked paprika, and upped the chicken stock to almost 3 cups. I love one pot meals and will definitely be making this again.

I think that's it for now. What are your favorite recipes or things you've been trying lately? 

Friday update!

Confession: I have been horribly horrible about regularly blogging these days. But I suppose you already figured that one out on your own.  I haven't been doing much crafting lately, but I've been doing a lot of list-making for projects and just plain ol' relaxing.

Our life these days have been great. Ryan and I are getting settled into our daily routines and, slowly but surely, I feel like our life is slowing down for a minute so we can play catch up. It's been wonderful to relax and just be. I've been watching a lot of TV lately, and quite frankly, I don't even care.  Maybe it's that Spring is upon us, but I feel like I am coming into a new season of life. And I like it.

Back to crafting. Thanks to Rachel's post during her craftbook review series, I found this little gem of a book:

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I strongly encourage you to check out Rachel's review of this book, it's what made me buy it! I am so excited about some of the projects in here - especially the Dala horse garland and crayfish hotpad. I've already started the crayfish hotpad...pics to come!

Then I was purusing through Etsy and found these inspiring things that went into my mental idea bank:

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I love the Scandinavian vintage look for the pillow.

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My mom just sent me a set of these little tins and I am quite excited to try a batch of sandbakkel!

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Ryan and I have been into vintage maps lately. Ryan has always had a place in his heart for geography, and during a recent antiqing venture we picked up an early 1800 map of the Virgin Islands for a few bucks. We went to the Virgin Islands for our honeymoon so it was fun to find an old map of a place we've been.  We framed it and hung it up and decided it would be fun to start collecting vintage maps of places we've been.  I love this old Stockholm map above - so cool!

That's all I have for now, folks!

Ramblings

I am showing you this picture of my kitchen table, not to show you how messy it is, but just because I want to document and remember this everyday moment of me and Ryan's life right now.  Right now, we are so blessed to get to spend [most] of our mornings together until almost noon!  I know that will not always be the case, and I am reveling in it now. Even if it means I have to push all of my crafting mess to one side of the table so we can eat breakfast together. It is great. 

After our breakfast, we went for a short run.  We are training for the LA Marathon this March! This will be my 3rd full marathon and Ryan's very 1st.  We are soooo excited! 

Then, I must admit, I turned on my woven heart light strand (thank you, IKEA), turned on some Christmas music, and enjoyed the rest of my leisurely morning by getting a few more crafts done for the Christmas fair in just a few weeks! Woah.

It has been a grand week.  And it's almost Friday, yay!

Fresh cranberries

How's your Monday treating you?

I'm typically not the biggest of fans of Mondays, but today has been a great day.  I worked a reverse hour day, so I got off at 3 PM.  Awesome!  I had time to talk with my parents, clean the apartment, and bake some cranberry-orange bread with fresh cranberries.  I love this time of year when fresh cranberries start to become plentiful in the grocery store. Love it.

It's going to be a good week, I can feel it in my bones! 

Happy Monday!