11. The Lettered Cottage and a DYI Pottery Barn Wine Bottle Chandelier

I love design, both fashion and interior.  At the moment, if someone were to walk into our home they might access our design style as "Big Lots Chic" meets "Outdated Palm Tree":

But I do have a vision of a tasteful, well designed and stylishly decorated home.  When will that vision will meet reality?  Well, let's just say it's a long term plan.

I love perusing one of my favorite interior design blogs, The Lettered Cottage.  Layla, the blog's owner, is an Interior Designer who blogs about her own fixer upper cottage.  They also happen to have a puppy that looks an awful lot like someone we know:

I was thrilled to see a post on her site linking to a great DYI Version of this Pottery Barn Wine Chandelier.  I've been eying the Chandelier in my Pottery Barn magazine...

Here's the Pottery Barn compared to the DYI:

Click here for the full instructions on this GREAT project. 

Now all I need is a wine-themed dining room.  But that's another blog post, and another house.

10. Jicama Salad Recipe

I have been LOVING Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  Jamie is a celebrity chief who started looking at the way some West Virginia families ate, what the kids were feed by the school system and why the common diet of processed food and snacks is so damaging to our health.

I happened to be watching the show while simultaneously doing my weekly meal planning.  So for last week's "Taco Tuesday" (by-the-way, my already obsessive meal planning as taken on a life of it's own including rotating themes for each day of the week.  That rhyme.  But that's another blog post...) I decided to ditch the canned beans and processed Spanish rice and instead try a nice and fresh Jicama salad. 

It was simple, and went GREAT with the Mexican.  Hope you like it too:

Ingredients

1 jicama, peeled and julienned

1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned

2 green onions, sliced thin

2 Tbsps cilantro, diced

1 lemon, juiced

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Tabasco Sauce

2 garlic cloves, diced

1/3 cup oil

Directions

1. Combine the jicama, red bell pepper, green onion, and cilantro.

2. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice, sugar, salt, Tabasco sauce, and garlic.

3. Drizzle in the oil and mix thoroughly.

4. Add the dressing to the vegetables to taste and serve.

9. Katie Lee On Breakfast

Love this little article I found from über-stylish food critic Katie Lee in her culinary and lifestyle column, "Katie's Kitchen."  I'm excited to test out her recipe next time Rolland gets a day off.

Toast with the Most


Nothing warms a winter morning like food, friends and a little Champagne.



By Katie Lee

I LOVE HAVING my girlfriends over for brunch after a fun night out. We spend the whole morning rehashing the events of the night before over an endless pot of coffee and a filling breakfast. We buy all of the New York newspapers, which are more like tabloids on the weekends, and talk and laugh for hours. It’s my favorite part of the day.

I have yet to meet a friend who doesn’t delight (and then some) in my Nutella French toast sandwiches and a cranberry mimosa. The taste of the Nutella reminds me of the crêpes I eat from the street vendors when I’m in Paris, and for a minute it feels like we’ve run off to France.

For ease of use, assemble the French toast in a casserole dish the night before and store it in the refrigerator. The extra hours in the fridge will allow the brioche to soak up all of the custard mixture, creating a soft, moist breadpudding- like texture. If I have houseguests, I leave a Post-it note on the oven with baking instructions. Whoever gets up first is in charge. When the smell of chocolate and hazelnut starts flowing through the house, everyone perks right up.

In addition to coffee, I always serve something with bubbles for a weekend breakfast. Mimosas are my standby, and for a different twist on the traditional I mix in a little cranberry juice.

A long breakfast with friends is a luxury, and with the food and the drinks, us girls will be gabbing until well past lunchtime.

NUTELLA FRENCH TOAST SANDWICHES

Serves 6 to 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 20 minutes, or up to overnight

Cook Time: 50 minutes



8 large eggs

2½ cups whole milk

¼ cup sugar

½ tspn. kosher salt

Zest of 1 orange

1 tspn. vanilla

1 loaf brioche, sliced about ¾-inch thick

¾ cup Nutella

3 ripe bananas, sliced on a diagonal



In a large bowl whisk eggs, milk, sugar, salt, orange zest and vanilla. Set aside. Grease a casserole dish. Spread half of the bread slices with Nutella and top with bananas and remaining bread slices. Place in casserole dish and pour in egg mixture and allow it to soak in, at least 20 minutes. (I like to make this the night before, cover it and store it in the refrigerator until the next morning.) Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until bread is golden brown and puffy. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

CRANBERRY MIMOSA

1 ounce cranberry juice

1 ounce orange juice

3 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine



Pour cranberry juice and orange juice into the bottom of a Champagne glass. Top with Champagne and serve.

8. Rolland's New Smoker

As we mentioned on the home page, Rolland got a smoker this year for Christmas and we love it. We wanted to share our favorite recipe that was a big hit at Christmas, Alton Brown's Pulled Pork with a heaping spoonful of  Chipotle BBQ Sauce, topped by the secret ingredient, Bleu Cheese Coleslaw.  This is a keeper folks!  Those of you family members that got to try this out, tell us if you liked it as much as we did by posting a comment!

7. The Blind Side

I have not seen this movie once, but twice. The first time was with a friend Robin, the second with mother-in-law Jeanette and Grandma over the New Year's Eve weekend. I can't wait for Rolland to see it too, since as a college football lover, I'll know he'll love this film as much as I do. Who doesn't love a sports movie, with a touching story of kindness and perseverance, but what's more a TRUE story? This is good stuff. If you haven't already, get yourselves to the nearest theatre to check it out. Look over on our inspiration page for more on the real Michael Oher.

6. My New Butter By Nadia Dress

I just love my new blue Butter By Nadia dress that my parents got me for my 30th birthday! It's so versatile and fun... I just can't stop trying it out different ways. It will get loved for many-a-years to come. Thanks so much Mom & Dad!

5. Our 20s

This is my last week of being in my 20s, and Rolland will be following me into the unknown next decade of our lives just a few short weeks after me. It has me a little reflective on how great of an experience my 20s have been. And by great I mean unbearably difficult at times, impossibly confusing at others, more fun (mostly legal) than imaginable mixed in-between and overall a means to becoming the person I am today (hopefully smarter and wiser for it). This is the decade where we figured out how to make it financially on our own, what we wanted to do with our lives career-wise, pulled all-nighters for a variety of different reasons (from the extremely responsible to the extremely irresponsible) and even found our would be spouses along the way. My 29 year-old self certainly could not hang-out with my 20 year-old self, Saturdays now being about movies and "staying up" until 10! I do believe my wild and crazy days are behind me, as are the trials from my 20s (which will make me stronger for my 30s). I'll also take with me so many charished memories of the fun times and the successes along the way that made it worth the ride. As a quote I just saw on a frame says, "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years."