Chandeliers

I really love chandeliers. They make any room even better I think. Here is my latest inspiration project that would be a perfect nursery idea:

Next project:

To say I love chalkboards is an understatement. I dream of having a home large enough for a huge ice cream shop style chalkboard in my kitchen. However, I have a new weekend project (in between our trip to Portland, fancy date night & work that is), I'm copying this idea:

First stop: Value Village for some silver dessert trays

Next stop: Fred Meyer for picture frame hooks & a new bottle of Gorilla Glue (already have leftover chalkboard paint & chalk, of course!)

Then: hang my new art (once they dry of course)

Harvest Party: Success

We had a great party last Saturday in our condo building's swanky lounge, and I did something I've never done before with an event: I totally relaxed. No decorations (well, pretty much), no stress about what to make, no last minute runs to the Ballard Market for something forgotten (we did however wander over to the brand new Whole Foods that afternoon, its about a mile from our house, to check it out & of course bought way too much for the party)... it felt great.

What we ended up serving:

Mini pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting & I dusted them with nutmeg. I so badly wanted to purchase a mini cheesecake pan, but have been working on using what I have... for now I"ll keep dropping shameless hints for Christmas.

I was really wanting to use my peppered pumpkin jelly for something, so while at Whole Foods picked up a couple baguettes & an amazing fancy type of Brie, thinly sliced the bread & toasted for a few minutes then added a slice of cheese over hot bread to melt a little bit & a dollop of jelly- delicious & quite a hit.

Daniel's favorite new dip (which he insisted on making once he saw the pretty apples that afternoon): a caramel brown sugar dip for apples, which really is just much easier than making caramel apples.

A few boring gluten free/vegan items (WF did disappoint on the attempt of purchasing a vegan/GF dessert): chips & salsa as well as hummus & crackers

Regular Apple Cider (no trip to the liquor store for Brandy) along with Pumpkin/Apple Cider/Good Earth mixed iced tea... and a great mix of wines and beer. Perfect beverages I think.

Guests also brought a tasty array of treats: three cheese artichoke dip with homemade crostini, stuffed mushrooms, a shrimp platter, and more drinks than necessary... our pantry is packed with wonderful wine & beer (a great feeling I might add).

Over all, it was a total success & we had so much fun (not to mention clean up was a breeze because we didn't have it in our home!). Needless to say, I forgot to take pictures.

Delancey

For my birthday all I really wanted was to eat at Delancey (well, and to go shopping and to get a manicure). Wonderful, wonderful birthday that hasn't ended yet, but the real reason for the post is to talk about possibly the most perfect restaurant we've ever been to. So perfect, that we were dreaming about opening our own restaurant someday...

There is no sign yet up yet, which made it almost magical because you knew exactly where you were going regardless. Amazing decor. Rustic, simple and perfectly thoughtful. I was in love.

Incredible wine list, I tried their recommended sparkling wine that was featured on the coolest chalkboard-sided cabinet ever (Daniel says that he wants one too) & D had some delicious red, but I forget the name of that too. Also, when the pizza came we ordered a Mexican Coca-Cola, which I swear had cinnamon in it.

We ordered their classic pepperoni because, as we discuss often, that you can tell a lot about a restaurant by how they make a staple dish (i.e. spaghetti & meatballs at an Italian place). And friends, it was BY FAR the best pepperoni pizza I have ever tasted. I was much more excited to try their Padron Pizza, made with padron chilies (pictured below) and I can't wait to take my Dad there because he would love it. So very spicy and delicious. My favorite of the evening.

Even though we were stuffed, and I had a perfect box of See's waiting for me at home, I insisted that we order the famous Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookie with Gray Salt. Completely inspiring, and I now am going to attempt the recipe for D's party in honor of his new favorite cookie.

Come to Ballard & try Delancey and come see us while you're at it! Or better yet, take us with you. We'll walk there & enjoy my new favorite restaurant together :)

P.S. All photos are taken from the amazing restaurant owner/inventor's blog... because alas, I did remember my camera this time but forgot to take my own pictures. Don't worry, we're taking Daniel's Dad their next weekend & I'll make sure to take pictures.

Vegan Gluten-Free Apple Pear Crisp...

Apparently, it is possible to eat dessert even if you are a vegan (and you don't have to spend a fortune on a thousand weird ingredients like I imagined I would).

A few of our good friends have decided to go vegan. Why, I have no idea (other than the obvious heath reasons and animal rights reasons that Daniel and I choose to avoid thinking about). But needless to say, I love my friends and love baking & cooking for a crowd. So... vegan gluten free dessert it is.

On Tuesday we had a dinner party with eight of our greatest Seattle friends, and (most) all food there was vegan. Being the nice girl that I am, I asked the host what I could bring... Dessert it was (I was so hoping to be given wine or salad duty).

I have a million apples in my fridge, so I thought it'd be a good start because no one avoids apples that I know of. It was much easier and MUCH more delicious than I was imagining (how can anything without butter taste good?).

Off to the Ballard Market I went to purchase gluten free flour and pears, other than that I had all the ingredients (with major substitutions) & was quite proud of myself because ten minutes later we were out the door walking to our friend's apartment.

Recipe for Vegan Gluten-Free Pecan Apple Pear Crisp (my way below):

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease (NOT with butter, friends) any kind oven-proof pan (I use a giant white casserole dish with a lid for proper transporting on our 10 block walk)

Mix together 4 sliced tart apples (good 'ol granny smith worked great) and 4 sliced pears with 1 TB flour (I used Bob's Red Mill GF sorghum flour), 1 TB sugar and 1 TB of cinnamon. Then proceed to dump all contents into pretty oven safe dish.

Next, I ground up a ton of pecans in my Cuisinart (if I would have had more time I would have toasted them, so I highly recommend that) to end up equaling 1 1/2 cup ground nuts (hazelnuts would also be wonderful).

In a bowl mix together:

1/2 cup flour (same GF flour used here)
1/2 cup sucant or raw sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 ts. baking powder

1/2 ts. sea salt

1 TB ground cinnamon

1 ts. ground nutmeg

1 ts. ground cloves

1 ts. pure vanilla

1 TB water (recipe called for non-dairy milk, but I didn't want to buy it)

2 1/2 TB canola oil (recipe called for palm oil)

Mix with fork until it looks moist and crumbly, then pour evenly over top of apple/pear mixture

Bake for about 45 minutes & serve hot with fake ice cream (I serve some coconut ice cream alternative which was actually pretty decent, and Hagan-Daaz Vanilla for the non-vegs).

Harvest Party

The great thing about our new condo is the luxury of reserving the swanky "community lounge", which I promptly reserved for a Harvest Party (in honor of the hubby's birthday next week) within days of moving in.

I am so excited, and have been researching what to serve for the past few days. Any ideas friends? While in Friday Harbor we picked up some Peppered Pumpkin jelly (I believe that's what it was called), so I'm dreaming of serving it with some sort of cheese on a crostini or something.

In keeping with tradition, I'll serve Martha's Spiked Apple Pie Cider again, but I'm wondering if I could do a Fall-ish sangria too? With pear, apple etc? I can't seem to find a good recipe, but I'm sure Daniel won't mind taste testing for me.

We're planning for at least 30 people & I'd love to try some new appetizer recipes for the party. One can only do so many cheese & cracker patters... Any ideas? We have quite a few vegans, vegeterians and gluten-free quests coming as well & I'd like them to be able to partake in at least some of it!