I've Moved!

I'm over here now...

www.ourcorneroftheearth.com

(I'm still working on the re-direct)

Roadtrip Nation

Since we don't have cable, I've been watching a lot of public television.  Good stuff too, Julia Child, a show called Motion about outdoor adventures, the Katie Brown Workshop.  I recently came across Roadtrip Nation which is a series about college kids who get an RV and travel around country seeking out and interviewing people who followed their dreams.
 
Here are some inspirational tidbits from the piece.

"It depends how you look at failing.  Never doing what I wanted to do is failure to me." The Knux

"Your heart is like a GPS.  The GPS system in your car will tell you which way to go but it's not going to turn your car for you.  If your heart is telling you to turn left, you better turn left.  A lot people wait until its too late to listen to their heart." Van Taylor Monroe, Sneaker Artist

"It sounds silly to say you profit from your mistakes but you do.  When you make a mistake and you go in the wrong direction, it will help you somewhere."  Kary Mullis, Nobel Prize Winning Chemist

I'm in a new place.  My heart and mind are open and challenged and I'm constantly inspired. 

I told a friend of mine that I feel like I was an abandoned plant for the past couple of years and now someone picked me up and put me in the sun and gave me water. 

This morning

Digging on this song this morning.


Photo via

Weekend Recap

A successful neighborhood potluck (Goulash!)
Lunch with friends at Govinda's
A pound of my favorite beans were purchased

A trip to Loop

Another batch of vanilla bean pudding was made (Hugo likes to stand between my legs)
Drinks and knitting with friends (to use the goodies from Loop)
Sleeping in until 10:30am!
A photo wall was assembled (why does it take me so long to hang pictures?)

How was your weekend?

Snow Day

It snowed over a foot the other night. The first big snow storm of the season.

  
Here are some pictures from my morning walk with Hugo. It was beautiful and quiet, two things you don't always find in the city.  And we found some unexpected things, including a couple snow men and women!

Since I was working from home, I wanted to make something special for the snow day but didn't have a lot of time to do baking. So I whipped up Smitten Kitchen's Vanilla Pudding in 20 minutes with the vanilla beans left over from Christmas. It was a great decision.

Vanilla Bean Pudding (makes 6 half-cup servings)

2 2/3 cups whole milk, divided

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean (I used 3 halves)

1 large egg

Bring 2 cups of the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. While it is heating, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and vanilla bean (if you’re replacing it with extract, don’t add it yet) in the bottom of a medium, heatproof bowl. Gradually whisk in the remaining 2/3 cup whole milk, a little at a time so lumps do not form, then whisk in the egg. Once milk is boiling, very gradually add it to the cornstarch mixture in the bowl, whisking the whole time.

Return the mixture back to the saucepan, stirring constantly with a silicon spatula or wooden spoon. Once it comes to a simmer, cook it for one minute longer (which will cook the cornstarch and egg fully). Stir in vanilla extract, if you’re using it and divide pudding among 6 dishes. Chill in refrigerator until fully set, about 2 hours.

Monday Night Dinner

See what I posted over here today for an easy dinner idea.

P.S. I loved Molly's book!

Reminiscing

I just came across these film shots of us in Malibu circa 2005. Jeff and I packed a picnic and headed to the beach. I know I've mentioned a million times before that we lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years and today I'm feeling a little nostalgic, so please bear with me.

This past Sunday morning I was feeling like I never do what I want to do. It seems that there is always a family party, projects to be completed around the house, overtime to put in at work, committee meetings to attend, and there aren't enough hours in the day to focus on the things I enjoy. Jeff reminded me about the bubble we lived in Los Angeles and I realized how much I miss that. We didn't know many people and we didn't have many obligations (other than our jobs) - no mortgage, no dog, no family. Most weekends we would get in the car and go: Big Sur, Joshua Tree, Malibu, San Francisco, San Diego, Catalina. It's no wonder I feel at home when we are on a road trip.

When Jeff and I went back to visit LA in April 2010, it was a really weird experience. At the time, I was feeling a little down about life - like I hadn't grown that much personally or professionally during my time in Philadelphia. But once we got to L.A., the city proved me wrong. I actually did grow a lot - I am a married woman with a career and a house of my own and a dog and a community. I wouldn't have those things if i stayed in L.A. (house-of-my-own for sure). Someone once said, "it's not until you go back to a place that hasn't changed that you realize how much you have altered." Although there were more people, billboards, friends had babies and bought houses...the city was exactly as I remembered, unchanged for the most part, unlike myself.

Appropriately, I found this billboard series yesterday called "Adios LA" by Jon Jackson through The Jealous Curator. Jackson is leaving L.A. for New York and wanted to say goodbye properly. Having been through my own break up with Los Angeles, I found this so darn clever.

Banana Bread

I'm kind of picky about bananas. They are probably the one fruit I am most particular about. I prefer them on the unripe/slightly green side because once they start to ripen, the flavor is too banana-y. So luckily, I found a recipe for all the spotty bananas that end up in our kitchen. This Banana Brunch Bread recipe has been in the family for years now. My mother-in-law originally found it and passed it around. My mom says she has bad luck with it - that it always caves in or bubbles over so she doesn't use it but I find that it never disappoints. It's incredibly moist because of the sour cream and it has a crispy sugary pecan topping. The combination is just so darn good. I once sold one at a work fundraiser for $12!


Banana Brunch Bread

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mashed banana (I usually use 1 banana)
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Topping
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I suggest pecans)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in eggs then sour cream, bananas and vanilla extract. Add the remaining batter ingredients. Pour into well greased loaf pan.

Mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle on the top of batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes (I have to keep an eye on it at this point but sometimes its in my oven for about an hour). Cool for about 20 minutes.

Make sure your oven isn't too hot and that the baking soda and baking powder are fresh - this really makes a difference. If you need to test your oven, an easy way to find out the problem areas are to place a baking sheet lined with bread in the middle rack of your oven. Bake for a few minutes until they are browned. My oven is hot in the back right corner so I typically avoid that area if possible.


Anyway, I have been reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (which I'm loving, by the way) and Molly writes about her own banana bread recipe. She does it a little differently, adding chocolate chips and crystallized ginger. So I decided to give it a go this time around (using the recipe above) and added about 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and left off the pecans in the topping. Unfortunately it wasn't successful. Something about the sweetness of the chocolate doesn't match well (in my opinion) with the banana. Oh well!

PS. I haven't been around because my brother was admitted to the hospital last Thursday due to a pulmonary infarction and pulmonary embolism. We are not sure why this happened but the doctors suspect its genetic. He is stable and will probably come home this weekend. Very scary.

Photo credit: Cooking Light

Holiday Sweetness

I needed some time away from the holiday stuff to decompress, but before we move on completely I wanted to share with you some of the sweetness that went around our house last month.

A small Christmas tree was purchased at Urban Jungle and decorated with white lights, pine cones and red ornaments.  Fresh cinnnamon swirl bread was made the morning of Christmas Eve for the fathers in my life. A blue cheese and mushroom frittata was made on Christmas morning with our new cast iron pan. A trip to Freedom Park was taken with Hugo before the snow storm.  A chocolate hazelnut pastry from Andre's bakery was enjoyed. One of my Christmas gifts, a Betsy Dunlap and Shanna Murray's calendar was adored.

 

 

Jeff's First Day

Today is Jeff's first day of school!

This photo was taken back in September on his first day of student teaching. He dragged me out of bed early to take it and I was grumpy (I'm not a morning person), but now I am so very glad for the memory.

This morning I put a surprise snack in his bag with a note of encouragement that I hope brightens his day and calms his nerves.

Good luck Jeff, I love you!

Dinner Tonight: Salmon and Spinach Quiche

Back in August, I wrote about our membership to a CSS in which we received sustainably harvested salmon. We saved two large pieces with intentions of baking them for our annual Christmas Eve party but plans changed and we ended up making a pasture raised, organic turkey from Spring Wood Farm. So now we have some beautiful salmon to eat in the new year!

Dinner Tonight: Pan seared salmon and spinach quiche.

I don't really have a recipe for the quiche because I kind of winged it - pie crust, 4 eggs, parmesan cheese, onion, fresh spinach and a little nutmeg, salt and pepper.  

For the salmon, Jeff got the cast iron pan screaming hot, added a little vegetable oil, put a little sea salt on the fish and then put the skin side down for 3 minutes.  He then flipped the fish and let cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Delicious, fresh and healthy!

Better late than never

Happy New Year Friends!

I know I'm a little behind on the new years post but better late than never, right?

I don't know about you, but good riddance 2010! I am ready for 2011 and the next chapter in our lives. For the past three years, Jeff has been in school to get his Masters in Education and tomorrow, tomorrow he starts a new teaching job! It has been a rough road for him - they really don't make it easy for people who change careers - he hit many road blocks but I am so proud of him for reaching his goal.

Speaking of goals, when January comes around, I try to make goals - not resolutions. I once read here that the first step to actualizing your goals is writing them down.

So here are some of mine for 2011:

- Carve out more time for crafting and less consuming.

- Workout on a daily basis, it's always the answer.

- Watch less TV and listen to more music.

- Drink more tea and less coffee.

- Make time for cooking nutritious meals, eat less meat.

I look forward to being in this space in 2011 and sharing with you some plans I have in the works.

I'm not exactly sure what it will look like but it's becoming clearer than ever before what I want for my life and I'm ready to dream big.

My Favorite Snack: Ranch Pretzels

This snack goes back to middle school when I was introduced to them by my friend Kim and her family. I always get a craving for them around this time of year and I could eat the entire batch by myself. You can easily double the recipe for a holiday party.

Ranch Pretzels

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 bag of hard pretzels

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients together and pour it over the pretzels you have broken up into bite sized pieces. Toss until pretzels are evenly coated and bake for 10 minutes. Pull out of the oven and toss again and bake for an additional 8 minutes. Let cool and serve in small bowls around the party.

Warning: They are addicting!

Happy Sunday

Snow is falling
Dog is snuggling
Turkey stock is bubbling
Football watching
Holiday decompressing.

It's a perfect afternoon for Rachael Ray's Caponata Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying your day off.

Baby Hat Update (more homemade gifts)

Awhile back, I posted about knitting a baby hat...and it was a huge success. I was so worried that it would be too small but it fits him perfectly. You can read more and see pictures on Leya's blog here.

OK, I'm almost done with the homemade gifts. Phew!