The Frame.

{ Our current frame/chalkboard situation}

My love affair with this black plastic frame (that we ALL have) began three years ago at Ali's wedding. It's beautiful, cheap and very accessible from our dear friends at Ikea. I bought one shortly after her wedding, and for a couple years it housed an engagement photo (and made an appearance at our wedding two years ago) and about a year ago we turned it into a chalkboard that in theory we change seasonally. I've recently been debating spray painting it some wonderful color, and am now sold:

While looking at these really fun headbands (which made me think of Ali again), I came across our dear frame. I love this photo, and now am dreaming up a cute nursery idea...

Leaning Library

Check out this amazing concept of a new Espresso Bar near Grand Central Station. Creative is an understatement for these folks, I love that they stuck with their idea throughout the entire space, from the herringbone hardwoods on the wall to the horizonal pendants opposite.

Date Night

Well, we finally made it to Palace Kitchen for dinner on Friday. We were served the best bread (Dahlia Bakery) & olive oil/vinegar... on the planet. I'm still thinking about it. Great Cesar salad with their giant crouton. The food was pretty good, I ordered the swiss chard brown butter ravioli and wasn't impressed but we loved D's rotisserie chicken. We will definitely go back.


After dinner we walked over to Nordstrom, as D is in "need" of a new pair of boots this season. I am always an advocate of new shoes, if only he would just buy what I like though...

Then off to Barnes & Noble. Where I sit in the craft/art/interior design section as long as I'm allowed. And D wanders through the Religious section, Art, Starbucks etc. Sometimes coming to hang out with me if I'm looking at something particularly interesting, but not Martha's Encyclopedia of Craft like I've been obsessing over lately.

Then walked over to see the Social Network, which by the way a 10:00pm showing is way too late for us after a looooong work week. But, such an interesting movie & I thought that Justin Timberlake was fantastic (surprise surprise). I am a little freaked out that the youngest billionaire is the same age as I am. Wow.

Happy dreary fall Sunday, off to clean up after the Harvest Party extravaganza we had last night!

Cooking Light: Seattle Review

I just received my November issue of Cooking Light, where they feature a new city each month in The Hungry Traveler... this month it is our very own Seattle! I was very excited to see my server from Zig Zag Cafe that we met on Thursday (wearing the same adorable Anthro dress) in the magazine :)

(Canlis and Cactus, and Daniel. Three perfect things about Seattle.)

Let me offer a little review of my own, while they mentioned a few great places (Volterra, Ocho and La Carta, two of my favorite neighborhood restaurants) they missed way too many, and didn't give a good review of our great city. No mention of Canlis (aka: the happiest place on earth) or Delancey (I may be way too partial to Delancey though I suppose) or even The Tom Douglas. How can you talk about food in Seattle and forget Tom Douglas? Or Cactus (quite possibly the best Mexican food you'll ever taste, and even better margaritas)? They really should get locals to write about their own cities I think... not that I'm passionate about food or anything :)

New York City

New York City is my favorite place on the planet. I love that there are no backyards, great bakeries, a true appreciation for art/artists/design, funky boutiques and no sense of a true majority or minority among New Yorkers. I feel right at home among the hustle and am in awe of the beauty of the city. Especially now, being back I find that I walk much too fast for Seattlites. But, I have found that I am incredibly thankful for the city we live in. Many of the aspects that I love about New York, I've found that I can appreciate right down the street (I can pretty much walk anywhere I need to go). And I need to, because sometimes dreamers are never content in the present.

Charleston, SC

Well, we have just returned from New York City but I wanted to post a photo from our anniversary trip to Charleston, SC. I loved Charleston; very southern and very cool. Here we are on the amazing rooftop bar at Grill 225 downtown, definitely one of the highlights of the trip! New York recap to come as well as my new "cooking from the pantry" kick I'm on.

two year anniversary trip: Charleston, SC

I have always wanted to go to the South (well, in all honesty I want to wear big hats and drink mint juleps on a beautiful porch), and specifically go to Charleston to see the incredible architecture. So, my sweet hubby took me there to celebrate our two year anniversary.

We swam in the Atlantic Ocean at dinnertime, walked and walked and walked around the beautifully residential city, bought art from a local photographer, ate toasted coconut gelato while strolling through the open air markets, took a historical architecture tour (believe it or not) where we stopped to have tea on the porch of the Palmer House, ate incredibly delicious and dangerous food (by the third day all I wanted to eat was vegetables) and, if we weren't already married I would say that I found where we should get married: The Lowndes Plantation. On the water, and completely magical... Daniel's family must have had something to do with that!

Everytime...

Everytime I hear these songs (the live version is by far my favorite):

I am reminded of this magical day...

{P.S. Stay tuned for our two year anniversary pictures from our trip to Charleston, SC!}

If only...

...I still had my employee discount, and a bigger than city-living kitchen... I would purchase this perfect wallpaper to quite possibly frame above a lovely banquette dining area:

A lesson on beautiful banquettes:

(The gorgeous banquette above was featured in Traditional Home, designer: Tobi Fairley)

As many of you know, I have quite of love for banquettes of all sorts. Reading nooks, kitchen seating, glamorous dining rooms... my heart flutters when I see them. Did you know, that when they were first introduced in the 1600's in France, they were reserved for royalty? Some even were used as disguises for secret passage ways (yet another reason to love them!). I love the transformation that has taken place, as now they are used in many tight spaces and can be made incredibly affordable. Recently, I've been working on a project which incorporates a great corner banquette in a kitchen and wanted to share the images that have inspired me with this project.

Thank you Elle Decor for the extra storage ideas:

Great idea for tight spaces, or kid spaces:

I would love to curl up with a good magazine here:

Dear Amanda Nisbet,

Dear Amanda,


Can I please intern for you? I'd quite like to learn your ways. And be around the beautiful things you create in hopes that the creativity would rub off on me.

Sincerely,

Laurie Beth Lowndes

Can I move in?

I would quite like to live here (found on here) and have those amazing leaf prints too:

The Office

Daniel and I spent the weekend finally unpacking my three gigantic art stuff boxes that were neatly stacked below, above and beside the office desk (I was hoping this was good enough of organization, but alas, after almost three months it was time, and I dearly missed my collection of vintage buttons)... which might be one reason there are no pictures posted of the new condo (the fact that I cannot find my camera charger is beside the point). I managed to find too many clippy things (see above picture) from college projects, and am totally inspired to use this idea from the picture above (found on Design Sponge months ago).

We spent the ENTIRE day on Friday organizing (aside from a quick break to catch up on episodes of The Office), cleaning and throwing away a lot of items that could have been donated (D was however, all too willing to make recycling runs for me down to the third floor parking, so I went with it!) and me fighting to keep precious treasures (i.e. too many 3" pieces of different ribbon that I've promised to use & keep organized this time, a thousand mismatched buttons and scrapes of fabric for the Onesies I intend to make someday). Zero dollars spent, and I finally have regained a space to be creative.

I even considered making "Happy New Year's" cards, but I think my camera is hidden somewhere with the charger that has all of our cute Fall/Birthday etc. pictures on it. Can't I just use a wedding picture from two years ago? I never made Christmas cards the year we got married, so it counts right? Am I too late to make cards? We'll see what this weekend brings, and if I can squeeze a couple hours in to make them. I am helping The Husband's BFF decorate his new place, and Lord knows how long that will take :)

Back to The Office (which is actually a little nook in our bedroom). Now that we can see the window, I've decided we desperately need curtains (the window was previously obstructed by my massive boxes). Here is what I was given permission to purchase before he'd actually seen them (I promised they weren't too ruffly) from Urban Outfitters:

Promise to post pictures of the new place and updates when I find the necessary means (i.e. time, camera, charger). For now, I am thankfully inspired to create again, which is so good for my soul while missing my glue gun for three months.

Black & White

To say I love color is an understatement (much to the dismay of my husband), but there is something about these silhouette's and the black and white combo that I love. This would be a beautiful dining room, I imagine that below the prints is beautiful banquette seating, because many dining rooms are made great thanks to banquette seating :)

I wouldn't mind having this room:

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!