InstaFriday

It's been a crazy but enjoyable week. With Hurricane Isaac, class was cancelled Tuesday to Thursday. Tuesday was calm, we spent time at home relaxing, watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, getting ahead on school work, and watching the storm. We had power until 1:30pm Wednesday and only lost it for 21 hours. I think the worst was when we lost power and the Grey's Anatomy was over and the storm was not very exciting to watch. I expected stronger winds and harder rain but I guess other areas got hit much harder so we must have been lucky.

Here's my recap in photos:

1. We brought the rosemary bush inside. It sat next to be at the table and made me hungry for lamb. Yes, I associate rosemary with eating lamb. 2. Before we lost power, I enjoyed some time reading research articles and a glass of red wine. Some lamb would have been good here too. 3. Here is the pile of yard waste B picked up after the storm. He worked hard and got 6 bags and a pile of sticks. 4. After the storm we went on a date to the local coffee shop for a treat and a cool beverage. It was packed because not many places in town were open yet. We do not go here often enough but enjoy it every time we go. We must use this as a date location more often!

You will notice a lack of photos during the storm... I shut off my phone for most of it to conserve power. During the storm, I had a strong desire to bake something... but since we had no power, no ingredients, and no running water, this was not possible. Our waistlines are probably better off. I also need to remember to put some movies on our iPad for the next tropical storm or hurricane for something to do. Also, we did not need to eat any canned food... I now have spaghetti o's for sale.

Some interesting quotes from our 21 hours without power:

"What are in the ranch beans you bought? Black beans and ranch dressing?"

"Can we name our first child Isaac to commemorate this event?" "No, this storm was boring and I do not want a boring child."

"If we painted, what color would you paint the bedroom walls?" "Salmon." "Red or pink? I prefer red salmon from a can. What about the ceiling?" "Not the current puke green color it is."

Can you figure out who said what? You can tell we do not spend much time talking in the dark. Sometimes that might be better for us too.

Have a great long weekend! We will be doing more yard work, homework, lesson planning, eating yummy hot food, going on a date, and most likely grocery shopping. You do not want to see my fridge... it is very sad.

Roasted tomato & caramelized onion pizza

I think my house has turned into a pizza factory. We make pizza every week but we love it, know how to make healthy versions, and sometimes we just need something easy. I made this during the week, from scratch, and we ate by 6:30, success!

2c cherry tomatoes, halved

salt, pepper & oregano

1 yellow onion, halved then sliced

evoo

1c whole wheat flour

1c white flour + extra for rolling out dough

1/2t salt

1 packet quick rise yeast

1/4c chia seeds

1c hot water (120C)

1T evoo

2c grated old cheddar

Preheat over to 500. Mix together tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano in a small baking dish. Roast in oven for 20 minutes. Combine a glug of evoo and onion in a frying pan, cook slowly until onions are caramelized. Turn oven down to 350 once tomatoes are cooked.

Combine flours, salt, yeast, and chia seeds in a bowl. Heat water in microwave, add in 1T evoo. Mix into dry ingredients until it does not stick to the walls of the bowl. Knead a few times on a floured counter, set aside in a warm place covered by a towel. Once risen, knew a few more times, roll out to desired size. Transfer to pizza stone. Top with a drizzle of evoo, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, and grated cheddar. Bake in 350 oven for 20 minutes (until crust is cooked and cheese is browned). 

Let rest for 2 minutes, slice, and enjoy!

A great vegetarian option, because you don't need meat at every meal for your protein choice. We had our pizza with sliced veggies and hummus. We loved the basic ingredient combo and it was very budget friendly as well!

Missing Joe Fresh

A fellow Canadian friend, who also lives south of the border, mentioned on Facebook that she was excited to go to Joe Fresh on her trip home. This prompted me to check out the website and saw they had their fall fashions posted! There is so much I wish I could go buy. For my non-Canadian readers, did you know Joe Fresh is sold at the grocery store? There are now a few stand alone stores in Canada and NYC but how amazing is it to go for groceries and end up with some new clothes in your cart! One of the many things I miss about Canada...

marled sweater dress - tucked crewneck sweater - statement necklace - puffa vest - thin belt - corduroy jeans - bangle

I have cord jeans from last year, they are amazing. I highly recommend these, especially for the price.
Why do I want a puffa vest? I live in Louisiana where is might frost once per year?!?

Canadian family and friends... take note! What a great Christmas gift... something I no longer have access to. While I mention it, I also really like the houndstooth dress and coloured denim!

Teach me something

Today's tid bit of info about my research is brought to you be Hurricane Issac.  Since the university is closed today and tomorrow, lets not talk about school related topics for a moment. Instead, lets talk about hurricane prep.

Here is my view on Monday afternoon. The calm before the storm. It was a beautiful day in Baton Rouge, maybe even one of the nicest days this summer. To get ready for the storm, we brought everything in from outside, filled the car up with gas, bought 12 gallons of water, 4 bags of ice, and some canned food. But here's the best part, we did all of this on Sunday so we found everything we were looking for and it was not chaotic at all. The car is now parked in a different spot so it is not under any trees, we have lots of reading at home to do, and we just have to wait.

I was hoping to make it at least one year in the south without having to deal with a hurricane. See you on the other side of the storm, I imagine we will be losing power later this evening but I do have some blog posts waiting for you... blog posts this week do not mean we have power or internet service... or that we can even get out of our house!

Meal planning

This week's meal planning is going to be a little different than last week. In case you live under a rock... I hope you don't... there is a hurricane headed right for us. That means we need to be able to adjust our plans accordingly but still be prepared as I do not want to be running to the grocery store in a hurricane to get canned goods. Hence:

Yes, I caved and let B get spaghetti o's. You will also see some wonderful things like canned red salmon, tuna in water, and low sodium soup. The low sodium soup selection in this country is pathetic, I refuse to eat all the salt (even during a hurricane) so my choices were limited. You will also see some things for B (beans) and things I secretly love to eat out of a can like baby corn and sliced mushrooms. I guess the secret is out. Desperate times call for desperate measures.... and I will still eat my vegetables. We may also be getting a third mouth to feed if our cousin who lives in New Orleans has to evacuate. Flexibility is key this week!

With all that being said, here is the plan this week if we continue to have power and running water. If not, spaghetti o's!

Sunday - grown-up mac n cheese (we have been making this since the recipe was posted in the NY Times website in 2008; we always make extra tomato sauce so we have have this)

Monday - leftovers at the university

Tuesday - mexicalli pie

Wednesday - trout sandwiches with mustard potatoes (did not eat this last week and need to use up ingredients)

Thursday - dinner out (weather pending)

Friday - dinner out (weather pending)

Saturday - we want to BBQ... lets see if it is still raining first

InstaFriday

Its been a busy week. Classes started. So far I am enjoying teaching and the 3 classes I have signed up for. I have some reading to do on the weekend... but less than others because I did some during the week.

Here is my week in photos:

1. It may just look like a blob... but it is actually chocolate pudding with chocolate chips from Jason's Deli. Yum. 2. Last Friday was required to go to a 3 hour ESL seminar. State law requires foreigners teaching Louisiana students to do so... I promise, I have good English but I am foreign... so I guess I fit the requirements. 3. Grilled pesto, tomato, and fresh mozzarella sandwiches. We had this for dinner with leftover meat sauce as a dip. I have a feeling I will be making this one again. 4. On Monday I took everything but thee kitchen sink to school. Seriously. But I am settled in and ready to learn!

5. Week one for stats class we had homework... get Stata for your computer and go through chapter 1 of the workbook. Learn to use this program... it still seems like a foreign language. Maybe Stata needs to go to ESL. 6.  We are officially in the cone of uncertainty. Tropical storm Isaac, please go in a different direction. Thanks. 7. This is how we Zumba. Yes, my speaker is as small as my iPod and fills the entire dance studio. I am quite impressed with it this far.  And it works on bluetooth so I can hold my iPod to pause the music or change songs as needed. It was only $50 at Best Buy. 8. I am back to having a crispy crawfish salad every Thursday night of my life. Boys around here are such creatures of habit. But I humor them but joining.

This weekend involved reading, yardwork, meal planning, grocery shopping, and some time to relax. Have a wonderful weekend. See you Monday!

Chicken with mushrooms and pan sauce

On Sunday night we made a chicken dish that was new to us. We made enough for leftovers for the week... and I did not stop heating about the pan sauce all week. It was that good! I would like to attribute my pan sauce skills to my father, who is the gravy maker of the family. I used his trick, which I will share and it worked perfectly.

One of the reasons for making this dish was that we wanted to use our Staub that has never been used. Seriously! By the way, it was amazing. Nothing stuck, the heat transfer was consistent, and it was so easy to clean after. If you can afford one of these, you should really consider investing in one.

Ingredients:

4 thawed chicken breasts

Albanian sage rub

1T butter

One yellow onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

2T evoo

12-15 mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

rosemary & oregano

salt & pepper, to taste

1/4c chicken stock

1c white wine (we use the Whole Foods brand Chardonnay for cooking)

1/4c white flour

Rub chicken with Albanian sage or other rub of your choosing. This one is our fave from Penzeys spices. Cook in preheated Staub (or other pot) until cooked. Remove chicken and cover with foil. Melt butter in remaining rub in pot, sautée onion and celery until translucent. Add garlic, cook for one minute. Add mushrooms, evoo, herbs, and seasonings. Deglaze pot with chicken stock, add white wine and bring to simmer. Add back in chicken and ensure cooked through.

Here's the fun part with the family secret. Remove the chicken, vegetables, etc into a serving dish so you only have pan sauce remaining. Pour half of pan sauce into a shaker (I use the same one I use in the morning to make protein shakes), gradually add flour and shake until combined. Whisk mixture back into pot and let simmer until it thickens. We never have clumps in gravy or pansauce when we make it this way! And no extra butter added to make a roux!

Our chicken was served with roasted broccoli and a spinach quinoa dish that can be found in the September edition of Everyday Food. It was so simple and easy.

B said the worst thing on his plate was the broccoli... and we are obsessed with this way of cooking broccoli! What a great compliment. B has requested this dish again on Sunday.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lovin Lulu

I love Lululemon clothing. Its not a secret. Is it the Canadian in me? Or do I just love a great quality product. Since I am teaching Zumba 9 hours a week... starting yesterday... I am going to be living in my workout clothing. Luckily its cute! Here are my three new faves:

coco softshell - cool racerback - wunder under pant

Now we just need more than a showroom in Baton Rouge so I do not need to order these goodies online... luckily Lulu has free shipping!

Teach me something

The best way to know you have learned something is by being able to teach it to someone else. You shall be my someone.

the only photo I have of my office thus far

I do not have much to say from my classes as they only started yesterday... and we only went through the syllabus. But I can comment on my independent study. 

Did you know, when pointing to a remembered location in space, people tend to point above a target that is below their eye level but below targets that are at eye level or above. People tend to reach lower when in the dark, which corrects for the error in the low target, improving accuracy at this level. Next we want further explore the effect of gravity on pointing relative to the trunk... our plan is to have people point at targets while suspended upside down on a tilt table. I spent 2.5 minutes of my life yesterday upside down trying to set up the experiment. The things we do for research...

Meal planning

Life changes starting today. No more hanging out at home, part time job, workout when I feel like it me. Today, graduate school starts. Yup, I am back to being a student and very excited for it. This means packing my lunch everyday, 2 night classes therefore 2 dinners at school, and making meals that provide leftovers we will enjoy. Also, meal planning helps us save money since we will not be tempted to eat out if we have ingredients in the fridge.

Here's what's for dinner this week!

Sunday - chicken with mushroom (Sept Everyday Food p.90), roasted broccoli, & quinoa with spinach (p. 108)

Monday - leftover gnocchi and meat sauce (Sept Everyday Food p.75)

Tuesday - mozzarella, tomato, and pesto grilled cheese

Wednesday - trout sandwiches with mustard potatoes

Thursday - trout, potato, and romaine salad

Friday - out

Saturday - coq au vin, asparagus, & tomato salad

Can you tell we love Everyday Food magazine?

InstaFriday

Happy Friday! I have had a busy week of work, meetings, and getting life organized to start grad school on Monday! I have ordered my textbooks, finalized my syllabus, picked up some "school supplies" and am finally getting settled on campus.

1. I have been loving stripes this week.  Lots and lots of stripes. The orange top was one of my purchases from Madewell. 2. Good work CAD. Keep up the strength. 3. More vegan chocolate chip cookies... which are becoming famous with B's colleagues. 4. LSU clock tower... I have been seeing lots of this lately and will be for the next 2 years!

Have a wonderful weekend! Mine will be filled with organization, relaxation, and some yummy food.

Scallop salad pizza

I mentioned a couple weeks ago we had the best homemade pizza we had ever made. Well... we outdid ourselves already! We used to go to a restaurant that would put any salad on a pizza crust and we have always wanted to try this at home.

The recipe is really simple. I have also discovered that when we tag-team dinner, I have no clue what B is doing so it is hard to give you our exact recipe! Oops... but I like it this way as it is fun to be in the kitchen to together.

Make this pizza crust. Once risen and rolled out, top with a drizzle of evoo and fresh mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes at 450.

Sautee scallops in white wine, evoo, and herbs.

Make any chopped salad... we just use anything that is in the fridge.

Top cooked crust with scallops, cut into slices, top with salad, and enjoy.

I also discovered the trick to getting the dough to rise quickly. Put it on the washer while it is running in a sunny room. Or maybe using fresh yeast just did the trick. Whatever it was, we loved our crust tonight.

Sonsie

When I was shopping on Monday I happened to walk by Sonsie on Newbury Street. The place was packed! I checked out their menu and was quite impressed so I made us a reservation for Tuesday night.

We were not disappointed!

We each had a glass of white wine, shared the speck pizza (proscuitto, mlozzarella, fig, & arugula), shared a bottle of chianti, B had the sirloin and I had the daily feature. My meal (pictured in the middle) was blue fish topped with a heirloom tomato and avocado salsa on sauteed kale and bacon with a side of roasted potatoes and beets. Yum! The dessert menu looked great but we could not eat another thing.

If you are even in downtown Boston and want a great meal, this would be my recommendation. The service was amazing along with the great food and atmosphere.

Boston in photos

Here's a quick summary of Boston. I took most of my photos the last 2 days as that is when I spent most of my time touring. 

We went to Nantasket Beach with our friends and their three kids. The water and the sand between my toes was wonderful. I spent most of my time in the water! I also saw Fort Independence and tons of churches.

I took the walk through the North End. The Freedom Trail goes through this area. There were also so many amazing looking pastry shops, small delis, and Italian restaurants. 

I choose to have a cannoli from Mike's Pastry for breakfast (yes, I know, not the healthiest choice). It was amazing and worth the calories. But I walked for about 5 hours that day and did a killer workout in the morning... its all about moderation.

After the North End I walked through downtown and Boston Common to the Boston Public Garden. This was my fave location the whole day. I liked the beauty of the inner city park framing the buildings all around. If it was not for shopping, I could have relaxed in this park all day.

Our last day in Boston we had a late flight so we took the train to Harvard. It was a beautiful campus... of course we bought shirts!

We also went to Zoe's for breakfast as per the recommendations of some online websites. I had eggs florentine. It was delish. I also loved the roasted potatoes it came with.

Thank you to our friends for being wonderful hosts and the city of Boston for the wonderful vacation. Hopefully we will be back again to explore more of this city!

Shop till I drop

Boston had some great moments for me... one of those was shopping. Oh, retail therapy.  We went to the premium outlets, Prudential Center, Copley Place, Quincy Market, and Newbury Street.

Want to know what I bought? Of course you do!

J.Crew - camel tippi sweater, natasha top in polka dot, ink dip popover

J.Crew Factory - cord pencil skirt, brown suede belt, navy striped sweater

Madewell - dotted retreat tee, summertime tank dress, striped v-neck pocket t

Okay, I bought some clothes for B, a couple gifts, shirts at Harvard, and hot pink running shoes from the Nike outlet.

Boston shopping = success!

InstaFriday

Just a couple instagram photos from our trip. We are home and unpacked. It was nice to have some time away before a new semester starts.

1. My tourist outfit... all J.Crew. So typically me. 2. A pre-flight sangria... way over priced by delish! 3. NYC! I was so close but so far away... at Newark airport. 4. My first ever bag from Madewell. I loved the store! Check back Monday to see my purchases!

I promise to do a Boston vacation recap next week! I took lots of great photos of the city and yummy food.

Happy weekend!

Instpired by neutrals

Lately, I have been loving neutrals... all over my life. Clothing, home decor, food, crafts. Its soothing and addicting. Maybe its because fall is coming. Wait, I live in Louisiana... fall is still months away and the hottest months are about to arrive. Lucky for me, I need to take a sweater everywhere because southerners love their air conditioning.

in my closet

 nailpolish - belt - hunter boots - tippi sweater - sandals

craft ideas

 noel - door mat - scarf - scrubbie - rope bowl - shoes - rope decor - twine pears

around my home

 lights - sofa - fireplace - laundry room - bedding - front entry - kitchen organization

from my kitchen

mushroom soup - fudge - fig pizza - iced chai - oatmeal - energy bites

Nap time

When I saw this on Pinterest the other day, I fell in love. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. I am a huge fan of naps so I had to share this:

source

if the pic is too small, click on the link!

Happy napping!

InstaFriday

We have had a great vacation so far... shopping, the pool, time with friends, and delish food. Let's get straight to the photos!

Some recent eats: 1. Super fruit Greek yogurt. 2. Homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies. 3. HBD oreos. 4. Oatmeal with pumpkin granola and peanut butter, this was amazing!

5. Love first class upgrades. The chairs and leg room are justo much better. 6. Wine bar at the Houston airport for lunch. 7. Arriving to this cute face! She has grown so much! 8. And we already made it shopping at the J.Crew outlet. Got some great pieces.

Time for a weekend at the beach, the park, and maybe more shopping?!?

Have a great weekend, wherever you may be.

 

Posted with Blogsy

J.Crew for B

How could I forget about B? Of course not! J.Crew has tons of great men's pieces for fall that I think would look great on him. He loves blues and needs to dress appropriately for teaching but can wear shorts since it is so hot around here. Here's my wish list for him!

  fleece track jacket -  espresso driving oxford - navy henley - chambray club shorts - aqua broken in tee - deep forest stanton shorts - ludlow blue shirt

She's from Boston

For one week! Today we are off to Boston for a week.  I have never been to the area... or anywhere in the northeast so I am very excited. We get to spend some time with good friends and their 3 kids, go shopping and to the beach, and do some touristy things.

source

My blogging may be sporatic while I am away. I want to spend my time enjoying the trip. Don't worry, you will hear all about it when I get back!