not new years, not collards

new year, new ambitions of finishing things i start, starting things i know i will never finish, and finding excuses for not doing either :) i started this blog to document the challenge to myself to strive to do "new" things, which i did every day for a year (even if i only documented 8 months in writing).
so my new "new" challenge to myself for 2012 is three fold: 1) do more of the things that i enjoy/love to do 2) do fewer of the things i think i "should" do 3) do everything i need to do (which i'm still working on figuring out that category). three things in the enjoy/love category are writing, blogs, and pictures so here goes another shot!

so for the randomness of this title: some of our friends gave us a beautiful bunch of kale around new years. i love dark leafy greens and when we used to get a CSA box every week i ate many more of them, i should either start getting that box or buy them more myself! i digress. i wanted to find a new recipe and cooking light had the perfect one (especially because this was the ONE week of winter we had here in new orleans) it came from a collection of winter vegetable recipes.

it wasn't collards but somehow this dark leafy green represented a sign of a new year, new luck (how's that for cheesy...which the dish did have in it and made it even better!) but seriously, it was the first, fresh cooked meal we made of 2012 and the first after many long weeks of finals, traveling, and holiday chaos. it was much needed!!

pasta with black kale, caramelized onions, and parsnips

here's to 2012 (even at the end of january), to more new things, less obligated things, and more needed things

be still my soul

i love the beach. as a teenager i always thought, oh wouldn't it have been more fun if we had gone somewhere else for vacation. oh was i wrong. i'm so thankful that my mom gave us the experience of going to the beach every year when we were growing up.

i have special memories from one beach in particular, seagrove, fl. located next to seaside these white sandy beaches are full of memories, thoughts, books, walks, prayers, laughs, and footprints. my soul is more still at the beach than anywhere else in the world. i see this and somehow everything seems like it will be ok:

this year i was able to go to seagrove with a group of girls who are so special to me, the vandy interns of 2005-2006. these girls represent so much, they welcomed me into their group during a time when my life was turned upside down. i haven't seen many of them in a few years so it was great to catch up, we talked non-stop for the whole time and ate lots of good food. i'm so thankful for these girls and can't wait to catch up next year!

this quick trip was the perfect end to summer and was the perfect respite for me before another semester starts. i plan to make this my screensaver on those days when 24 hours to get stuff done doesn't seem like enough...

be still, my soul;

the waves and winds still know his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below

gooooo dawgs!

since we were rained in today we couldn't go to a dawg game watching party so we stayed in with our dog to cheer on the dawgs. that's a lot of dawgs in one sentence!

so excited that football season is here, i only wish we lived closer to athens!

meatless meals

i'm not the biggest meat eater and could go without it on most days (beside Chick-Fil-A of course :) but i never thought that joe would join me in this. surprisingly i've sneaked in meatless meals, and he even suggests them from time to time.

this pasta dish became a staple for us this summer. pasta, goat cheese, and basil oil...what more could you want? we made variations including this one here with angel hair and tomatoes. i like to think of it as adult macaroni and cheese :)

this couscous recipe joe picked out and made and it was delicious. a great flavor combination and i would have never thought to combine cumin and cilantro to balance each other out. this one got compliments from both of our coworkers when we took leftovers.

we are trying to make more meatless meals for both nutritional and monetary reasons. it's also a great way to try new recipes we otherwise wouldn't have thought of!

i left my heart in san francisco...

well at least a part of it. san francisco stole a piece of my heart before i even visited. maybe it was full house, maybe it was iconic pictures of the golden gate bridge, whatever it was it was on my must see places to visit! i've been able to go three times now, including a week last summer, and every time i go i fall more in love. i think living in new orleans has made me appreciate cities with unique character and san fran has that!

this time it was for work so i didn't get tons of free time but i did get to explore and enjoy a few things i'd never done before like:

the japanese tea garden in golden gate park. i love golden gate park and was pleasantly surprised by this serene little alcove tucked away in the middle. it was perfect sipping jasmine tea on a cool day in august (only in san fran!)

sf moma. there was an excellent french exhibit filled with matisse and picasso (pre-cubism) and i enjoyed an amazing piece of velvet cake with chocolate ganache (featured on the food networks best thing i ever ate) accompanied by slow drip blue bottle coffee at the cafe in the sculpture garden on the roof.

uc berkeley. two days of my training was in berkeley and i enjoyed getting to know this eclectic college town. cal's campus is beautiful!

while walking around downtown berkeley i found a hello kitty yogurt shop, i'll admit this was a highlight of my day.

although my training was long i enjoyed getting to enjoy fall temperatures for a week, enjoy several delicious restaurants, and even seen friends and family. san fran is quickly becoming my second favorite us city, too bad it's so far away from the south :)

we made two years

i'm not sure if it's the same as when referring to a birthday in new orleans lingo but i think it is, so i'll say we made two years. on seven eleven joe and i celebrated two years of marriage. i can honestly say the second year was harder than the first, but much sweeter in many ways. i can't think of anyone else in the world i'd want to "make" all my days with.

he planned a special anniversary surprise day which was such a treat because he's never done this before! i'll admit i'm one of the worst people to surprise because i ask so many questions and usually figure things out, but this time it worked! he used groupons and living socials for much of the day and planned out a relaxed and enjoyable day filled with us.

coffee at one of our favorite spots

lunch at il posto with fresh squeezed lemonade and bruschetta grilled cheese

my first massage. probably the first time ever (except the beach) i just relaxed for a whole hour.

i came home to be sweet cupcakes

followed by a stroll in the city park sculpture garden. a nola hidden treasure!

ending the evening with a delicious dinner at the restaurant we ate at the night we got engaged.

the pièce de résistance that happened on a different day (after being re-scheduled 3 times due to rain!) an aerial tour of new orleans. this was one of the coolest things i've ever done and made me feel like i was on an episode of the bachelorette :)

a lovely day i will cherish the memories of. here's to many more years in the making.

BON APPÉTIT

so i failed at monday meals, who was i kidding? but i still want to share recipes that we use because to me there is nothing better than a kitchen tested (by a commoner like me) recipe.

my mom passed along her love of magazines to me, which comes in handy when i'm home because she passes down the magazines themselves. someone gave her a copy of this month's bon appetit which i immediately fell in love with, but thats a post for another day.

this month's issue features gwyneth paltrow who besides being breathtakingly beautiful and artistically talented decided to write a cookbook. she includes fresh, seasonal ingredients and mixes things up with things you wouldn't think of putting together (peaches and adobo sauce) and things you (and by that i mean i) wouldn't dream of eating (anchovies). in an attempt to branch out, in blind recipe faith i've already purchased the ingredients for several recipes included in the article.

you can read the full article here and by the end you will feel like you and gwyneth are bff's sipping wine in her london kitchen as you cook.

last week we tried the grilled chicken with peach bbq sauce and according to my husband who rates all of our meals for fun "it was one of the best things we've cooked." i think it is the sweet and spicy combo, not to mention a good excuse to use some of the delicious ga peaches we brought back, that seals the deal.

please excuse the gross iphone quality picture below. gwyneth serves hers with corn and mixed greens salad, we chose a brussels sprouts recipe we like and the recipe on the back of the coucous box. she also uses a real grill and we had to settle for the george foreman because we were out of lighter fluid. i look forward to making it again on the "real" grill! the chicken has to marinate for 20 min but other than that this is an easy weeknight meal that is a fun twist on traditional bbq chicken.

i'll most certainly have to follow up with a post on the pasta including anchovies, i'm a little scared!