Sunday Dreaming

More caramelized brussels sprouts, my go-to vegetable lately. This was the first time I've ever bought fresh ones. Normally I buy the frozen packages, and there's just no comparison.

There isn't even much of a cost difference.

I've been saving crazy amounts of money lately by cooking meals at home instead of eating out every weekend. I've pretty much mastered the art of the frittata.

Eggs + herbs + whatever is in your fridge= delicious, cheap meal.

Attempting to curb my spending urges by organizing. There's nothing like realizing how much stuff you've already amassed to keep your credit card in its slot.

Spending hours and hours and hours on the classifieds looking for lovely, two-bedroom apartments so that we can begin to start spreading out. Between trips to unimaginably lovely neighborhoods to see top floor apartments we can't afford, I'm mapping the space left in our apartment like a rubik's cube. Shelves need to be bought soon.

Movies I saw and liked:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Artist

Paper Moon

Pan's Labrynth

Feels good to get some stuff done (yay!)

It's Spring in my Mind

It's The Dead of Winter and It's Raining Outside

There's nothing like training for a new job to truly appreciate a Saturday morning in bed with toast and a laptop.

My new job credentials include being able to talk up to (but not limited to) 270 words per minute, swearing without stuttering and making sure no "uh", "um", "hmmm", or "huh" is left behind. I'm a word machine.

Can't wait to be able to use that on a future resume.

I caught the Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart on Netflix, and I was pretty captivated. Their creative process is really fascinating, and I kept thinking over and over how boys in bands are mostly all the same.

Certain personalities tend to gravitate towards similar things, I suppose.

Uchida-San

House of Hitoshi Uchida on the Selby.

The Year of Eating

The New Year has proved itself to me already.

2012, you are doing things to me... And I don't mean that in any sort of sexual way. Just to put that out there...

I have new hours at work for a little while, which is preventing me from enjoying very much actual sunlight, and I'm feeling it. I've been overcompensating with lots of delicious food though, and I wish I had the light to photograph it all. Chocolate on chocolate cake, caramelized brussels sprouts, medium-rare hamburgers marinated in several different sauces AND shallots, plus a roasted broccoli cheddar soup for good measure...

Yes, 2012, you have been good to me thus far.

Please enjoy this photograph of malt o' meal with butter and maple syrup as substitute for all the delicious things we've been eating and not photographing.

I really look forward to having extra energy to be creative and bloggy again. I'm really started to miss my camera. Sad face.

P.S. I've been channeling a bunch of energy into my tumblr as well. Still straddling the line on that one. Can't decide whether Pinterest is a better resource for spreading inspiring images. It's amazing to me how many people don't properly source their material on Tumblr and it's infuriating and just... a lot of work for a few pictures that simply look really pretty and may or may not live on by being further tumbled. Opinions?

P.P.S. I just finished watching the series Portlandia, and I'm crazy in love. My resolution to live in that city has quadrupled. Also cannot get that Washed Out song out of my head for the life of me now. Too good!

Home of Jennifer Sarkilahti on Design Sponge

Jennifer Sarkilahti's home was finally featured on Design Sponge. I've been waiting ages for this. What an amazing treat for the week.

I'm a huge fan of Odette and Jennifer's blog Odette New York.

Tumbling.

Let's see if it sticks this time, shall we?

parkstreetblog.tumblr.com

In the sketchbook

Top four images: 1. 2. 3. 4.

I've been thinking about our home a lot lately. We had a lot of new things come into our home over the holidays, which really displaced us for a while as we don't have any extra space to put it all.

Because an extra room isn't an option, we're really going to have to start utilizing our tall walls with some shelving to keep up with our collecting. That's a great new year's resolution, actually. Be more efficient with the space we have.

Does anyone else find comfort and solace in cleaning? It's a ritual that I really enjoy when I haven't got any pressing projects. I find I do some of my best thinking when I straighten. Clearing the cobwebs makes room for new ideas.

01/01/12

Happy New Year.

Make a soup.

I've been craving a hearty Clam Chowder lately and I think I found a forever recipe.

Make this in your dutch oven. It doesn't have to be a Le Cruiset. Thick metals will make the flavor incredible.

Don't underestimate the power of fresh herbs.

This is the recipe I leapt off from.

-6 slices of bacon

-A small onion (I used a red onion) chopped

-6-8 small potatoes (I used red) cubed

-1 1/2 cups of water

-1 cup of half & half

-Milk to get to your preferred consistency

-1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I almost always use more)

-pepper to taste

-2 cans (10 oz) clams

Optional: Chopped parsley, red wine vinegar, and a tablespoon of Greek yogurt.

Directions: Wash and cube potatoes and add to salted, boiling water. When fork tender, drain and set aside.

Cook bacon on stove-top till extra crispy. Set bacon aside to drain on paper towels and pour remaining grease into your dutch oven with a medium-low heat setting. Add onions when grease is hot and onions sizzle.

Stir until fragrant and losing color.

Add your potatoes and mash them with a spatula or wooden spoon until the pieces look deliciously consumable.

Add clam juice to the potato and onion, keeping the clams aside for last (they'll get chewy if you heat them too long).

Mix well and gradually add water, milk, and cream. Be sure to keep your flame low. DO NOT LET THIS SOUP BOIL. Keep stirring.

Chop bacon into tiny delectable pieces and put whatever you've managed not to eat into your soup.

Add clams.

If your soup is too thin for your liking, thicken it up a bit with about a tablespoon of cornstarch and water (mixed prior).

Add your salt and pepper to that gorgeous, steaming pot of calories and marvel at your amazing chef skills. If you're feeling up to it, add a bit of that red wine vinegar (go easy- this stuff can overpower if you're too generous).

Topping off with parsley will ensure a pretty picture.

Enjoy.

Happy New Years Eve

I did a guest post for Anne Kristine's blog 11.54 for the new year.

Just a little collection of things I put together to get into the spirit of celebration.

I'll be watching movies tonight and quietly bring in the new year with a beer or two. I've decided to make a list of easily attainable goals like to recycle more often and to relax a little more.

This song is pretty much perfect for today.

Pinned

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

I'm in an organizing mood. Everything in its right place.

Christmas Eve

Thanks for the incredible gifts and lunch, Grace. You made my Christmas extra-special with your visit.

Christmas Morning

This may have been the most perfect one yet.

It wasn't a white Christmas, but it was very blue and bright.

Christmas Loot

This is my fourth Christmas with Trent and my third in this house and it's been different each time.

This year we set a budget and gave each other free reign to buy whatever we felt we wanted or needed. For myself, I kept in my mind my love for movies, art projects to keep me preoccupied during the oncoming snowy winter, and some new additions to my wardrobe.

The ceramic to-go mug was an incredible surprise from Trent. I've been wanting one for such a long time, and this particular one is so beautifully designed and crafted. Perfect for morning commutes.

The only thing Trent really asked for this year was a new computer monitor for the kitchen, which made it very easy for me to shop for him. We now have not one, but two computer monitors on our desktop. Blogs in high definition? Worth. Every. Penny.

The laptop was also a gift for ourselves for Christmas, bought during the Black Friday madness at a discounted price.

The leather card-holder was a gift made by my friend Grace, who lives in San Francisco. Amazing incentive for me to have some business cards made someday.

I love documenting my favorites after Christmas so that I can come back and remember. We have a tendency to forget so quickly how blessed we are.

Merry post-Christmas everyone. I hope you got everything you needed and then some.

Analog

I keep having these moments where I'll go into the kitchen for an orange or to make a cup of tea and I end up cleaning something out. I know my mom used to do things like this- which makes me sort of terrified that I'm turning into her. I'm joking, of course. Sort of.

Our apartment is pretty tiny, but extremely efficient with storage. It has the ability to look like no one lives there when everything is in its right place- which is exactly how I want it to be. I'm a wannabe-minimalist with a lot of (hidden) stuff.

Anyway- I pulled everything out of the cabinets above our computer and spent a whole day going through hoards of notebooks (I've started and abandoned what feels like hundreds of notebooks) and a lot of fun things I've cut out of magazines over the last few years. The above notebook is actually my current sketch book and diary- so it's filled with a lot non-sense and angsty stories about feeling lonely or creatively constipated. Putting something fun in the pages make my trips down memory lane a little less... depressing.

I love looking at others' inspiration boards, and particularly when they're in a personal setting, but I feel like I'm seeing less of those lately. Pinterest has become so completely overwhelming with the best of everything, and I've started to find myself scrolling with eyes glazed over. Has this been happening to anyone else?

There's this overwhelming feeling to break free and go analog. There's just nothing like a pair of scissors and a glue stick on the couch with Netflix going, am I right?