golden girls

I have a ton of pictures from Sunday's party, so I thought I'd do a dedicated outfit post, rather than trying to put everything in one post.  I got this dress on Saturday and when I tried it on I knew I wanted to wear it for the party.  It's a Judith March dress, and I have another one of her dresses which is a favorite of mine, so I knew I'd love this one.  Even though I'm still in summer mode I've pretty much stopped looking at summery clothes.  Around this time of year I start looking towards winter and fall when I'm shopping for clothes, and I thought that this dress, while very summery, would also work nicely in the fall, with its autumnal colors.  Paired with some tights and boots?  The only thing that might ruin that plan is that the bow on the back would make me look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame if I tried layering a cardigan over it... I need to scheme a solution to that.  But! If you're interested in this dress, it's on super sale at ModCloth right now for only $37!  Only size small is still left, and the dress does run a little small, but if you were thinking of getting this dress, now is the time!

 
dress/courtesy of modcloth :: necklace(similar)/ruche shoes(similar)/courtesy of seychelles :: photos by Dan
I didn't know what Kristi was going to wear to the party, but we ended up kind of matching, or at least coordinating.  The yellow in my dress was almost the exact same as the yellow of her dress.  For those wondering, her dress is from Forever 21.  I've been going shopping with Kristi for interview outfits at Forever 21 and it's so weird to be in a Forever 21 again!  I haven't been in one in probably over a year.  They're so overwhelming!  But I can't deny there were some cute things there that I really wanted.  I tried a few things on, just for fun, even though I knew I couldn't buy anything.
Dusty had a blast, of course.  So much excitement, so many pets, so much lovins.  The party was to welcome Kristi to Tacoma, but I think Dusty may have stolen the show a bit.  I mean, how can something that cute not steal every show?  She can't help it.  

french macarons

So.  French Macarons.  You guys, I love them.  The first time I had them I was at a Juicy Couture party during NYFW (so random, but I think it was a Chictopia party?), and there were these male models who were walking around with trays full of cute beverages and macarons.  I am not at all about male models or Juicy Couture, but I am all about cute beverages and macarons.  Well, I didn't know that I was all about macarons at the time, but once I had one, I knew.  I rarely get them because they feel like such a treat.  Metropolitan Market has a selection of different macarons and every once in a while I treat myself to one.  Well, the other day I got it in my head that I was going to make macarons.  I'd heard that they were pretty difficult to get right, but I found what looked like a good recipe and went for it.  They turned out perfectly.  I was a little blown away that I got perfect macarons on my first try, and thought it might be a fluke, so I made another batch a couple days later.  Another perfect batch of macarons.  So, you guys, this recipe is totally fool proof. 
 



The recipe I found has a video that accompanies it and holy cow was it so helpful.  Macarons are fussy and you have to make them just right, otherwise they won't turn out right.  By being able to see what the textures and consistencies looked like in a video I was much better able to replicate the recipe exactly.  With macarons it seems like the method is just important, if not more so, than the ingredients.  You have to get the right consistencies when you're whipping and mixing things, and let them sit out, and then bake them for just the right amount of time.  I was really glad I used this recipe for my first time.  She's very specific about what you need to do to achieve a perfect macaron and gives tips for how to do it right, and what will happen if you do it wrong.  Definitely check out her youtube channel!  Not only are her videos all beautiful, but she's got some great recipes for entertaining!

(recipe via Entertaining With Beth)

Makes ~40 completed sandwich cookies

INGREDIENTS

3 Egg Whites

¼ cup white sugar 

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 cup almond flour

pinch of salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar (You can omit if needed, just may take a bit longer to reach stiff peaks but the recipe will still work)

METHOD:

(Eventually you will need to preheat your oven to 300ºF but I wouldn't do that first thing. After everything is mixed and you've piped them onto the cookie sheets is a good time to start your oven preheating.)

1.  Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those/snack on them (they're really tasty sweet almond bits!) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty top to your macaron.

2. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar for 8-10 mins. TIP: #1 eggwhites should be room temp. (If you didn't let them sit out prior to starting, just submerge the whole eggs in warm water for 5 minutes.) Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.  Then add the food coloring. Color does fade as it cooks, so do a shade or two darker than you want them to be.

3. Fold your flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture.  This part is really critical. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when they bake with no feet, over mix and your macarons will be flat and won't have feet.  With this recipe I found that 65-75 turns of the spatula when folding is about the right amount.  You want the batter to move like lava when you're done.  Watch the video and it'll show you visually what this consistency looks like. 

4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag, or if you're fancy like me and don't have one, a ziplock bag.  Cut a little bit of the bag's corner off (about a 1/4 inch bit), and pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 

5. Once you've filled your cookie sheet, rap the pan on the countertop hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.  Let them sit out for 20 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips.  This is when I preheated my oven to 300º F.

6. Only put one tray of macarons in the oven at a time.  This will ensure that each tray gets in the ideal spot of the oven.  The macarons sitting out waiting for the oven won't mind, as they're supposed to sit out for a while anyway.  Bake for 20 mins.  If they stick to the tray, they're not done.  They should slide right off the parchment paper.  If they're still sticking to the paper after 20 minutes, add 5-7 minutes to the cook time and see how they're doing then.  

While you're baking all your macarons, you can make the filling!  I made both raspberry filling and lime filling, and both are super easy and quick to make:

RASPBERRY or LIME BUTTER CREAM

1/4 cup salted butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

~1 cup fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice

OR 3 tbsp lime juice

1. Whip butter until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. 

2. Add your raspberry or lime juice to buttercream, and whip until combined.  For my raspberry batch I didn't quite whip long enought to fully incorporate the juice.  I whipped for much longer when I made my lime batch and it mixed up just right.  You don't want the juice to separate from the frosting. Transfer to a pastry bag or ziplock.  Again, cut a little corner off the ziplock bag, about 1/8 - 1/4 in

3. Take one of the baked cookies and pipe a small mound of buttercream onto the flat side, then grab another one and slightly squish the butter cream between the two.  Ta-Da!  

If not eating within 12 hours, put them in the fridge. I kept mine in the fridge for 4 days, and I've read that they can stay good refrigerated for up to a week.  You can also freeze them for up to 6 months!

sunday sunday sunday

I think this might be the last outfit from Austin... at this point I've lost track.  I was really excited about this dress because it's so comfortable.  It feels like jammies.  So soft, comfortable and easy to wear.  After Saturday's four-outfit-changes craziness, I felt like wearing something simple and comfy for Sunday.  I didn't get a shot of it, but this dress is also backless, which was nice for cooling down in the Austin heat, but most of the day was spent indoors.  We started the day listening to Elsie and Emma's keynote speech, and then there were more sessions during the afternoon.  So much learning!  And while the learning was awesome, it was more awesome just being around inspiring women.  Strong, independent women paving their own way in the blogosphere and their businesses.  Some had only just started their blogs, some were seasoned veterans with book deals, working with major brands and making a living blogging, some were creative handmade business owners, some were parents, some worked with brands interested in working with bloggers.  It was really inspiring.  Especially because it was all women.  There were a couple guys speaking, and some blogger husbands lurking about, but it primarily women supporting women and encouraging one another to go after their dreams and do it well. 

 

dress/courtesy of lulu's :: hat/courtesy of tittle millinery :: necklace/moorea seal bag/courtesy of bali elf :: photos by tieka

Last night I threw a big party at our house to welcome my best friend Kristina to Tacoma.  It was so much fun.  I feel like it's a strange combination, being an introvert and also thoroughly enjoying throwing parties.  I have to sneak off now and then to get some time to myself, a mini-recharge, but hosting parties is one of my favorite things.  I really want to have an end of summer s'more party before fall arrives.  We cleaned up our backyard for the big party and it's so nice to have the back yard clean and looking spiffy.  Of course, it's that time of year when the spiders are trying to take over, but I'm trying to keep them at bay.  I walk around the backyard with my arms flailing in front of me so I don't accidentally walk into a spider web, start spazzing out, and make the neighbors think I'm having a seizure.  Anyone else do the flail-arm-spider-walk? I find it to be an effective technique.

Oh, and totally unrelated to spider seizures: ModCloth is having an AWESOME huge sale right now!  Like, 70% off huge. Go check it out and snag some great stuff!

dinner date

This was the dress I had originally planned on wearing to prom, and after deciding to wear the sequined number to prom, I still wanted to give this dress a wear.  A bunch of us went out to dinner at Guero's before prom, so I wore this dress to dinner.  I love Guero's.  We went there twice last year, and I knew I had to go there again this year.  It was a big group, with Savannah and Jenny from Maiedae, Tieka, the gals from Brickyard Buffalo, Katie from Skunkboy, Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess (and all their menfolk).  It was a great way to fuel up before all the evening's festivities, and boy did I need fuel.  I didn't even know how much dancing I'd be doing!


 

dress/courtesy of lulu's :: necklace/francesca's collection :: shades/vintage clutch/courtesy of hearts :: outfit photos taken by tieka :: group shot from savannah
I know I haven't touched much on the conference itself yet, but it's just easier to do outfit posts at the moment.  I have lots of thoughts on the conference, so I will definitely be posting about it and the workshop I led.  It's actually been really nice having tons of outfits from TxSC to post because I've been mostly just wearing yoga leggings and hoodies since we got the puppy.  If having a puppy is any indicator of having a baby, then I can pretty much guarantee there aren't going to be outfit posts for the first month after I have a kid, at least.  Leggings, Y U so comfy?  I'm all for an outfit you can sleep in, then wake up and proceed to wear the rest of the day.  As much as I like getting dressed in an outfit that makes me feel awesome, I'm just not going to do that when I'm waking up at 7 to take the puppy out.  Because, let's be real, I'm going back to sleep for an hour when we come back inside.  I fell asleep on the kitchen floor with Dusty one morning this past week after taking her out at 7 AM.  Like, really fell asleep.  I had some weird dreams.  

a local meal

Last Saturday when Dan and I were at the farmer's market picking up the our CSA we randomly decided to buy a chicken.  We figured we could cook it and then eat it for the rest of the week.  We got it from Cheryl the Pig Lady who, despite the name, also offers steak and chicken.  We weren't able to get meat in our CSA this year, which was fine since I'm trying to cut back on meat anyway.  But we still do enjoy the occasional meat dish, and this was my first time getting meat from the farmer's market! It was also my first time roasting a whole chicken!  I've made chicken breasts before and some other things, but never a whole chicken.  It turned out pretty well, I think!
Since we had picked up the CSA, and we'd also grabbed some cheese at the market, we decided to make an entirely locally sourced meal.  The meat was from Cheryl, the veggies and basil from Little Eorthe (our CSA farm), the bread from Macrina Bakery, the butter from Smith Brothers, the feta from Twin Oaks Creamery.  The only non local part of the meal was the Sofia Riesling, which is from California.  I'm not sure I've ever had a riesling before, but it went great with our dinner and appetizer!  I've been drinking more light wines this summer, rather than the dark reds I usually go for.  Whites and rosés are so perfect for hot summer days, especially because they are typically served chilled.  I've always felt like more of a beer girl than a wine girl, but I've slowly been enjoying wines more.  After going on a winery tour when I was in Sonoma on my Brave trip, I was enthralled with the rich history and craftsmanship that wine making involves!  I still have a bottle from that trip that I've been meaning to drink on a special occasion. I bought two bottles and we drank the first when we got engaged... or married... I can't remember.  

While the chicken was roasting, I made a little bruschetta to go on crostinis with the feta.  I love making bruschetta because it only takes a couple minutes and it tastes so good.  We've got a cherry tomato plant in our garden that is about to start giving us ripe tomatoes, so I predict lots of bruschetta in the future!  One semester in college I pretty much lived off of bruschetta on crostini.  For a few summers back when I was living in Anchorage with my family, my parents let some friends who are missionaries in Italy stay in our house for the summer while they were on furlough, and they taught some cooking classes while they were at the house.  They've lived in Italy for many years now, so they've learned so many amazing recipes, and this is one that stuck with me.

Basic Bruschetta

Ingredients

Grape Tomatoes

Salt

Olive Oil

Basil

Garlic

French Bread Baguette or Artisinal Italian bread loaf

1.Take the grape tomatoes and dice them up into little pieces, I halve them, then quarter each half. How much you make really depends on how hungry you are or how many people you're making it for. I usually just eyeball it, and I don't make that much since I'm just feeding myself. But this is a perfect recipe for an hors d'œuvr, so you can also make a lot if you're feeding a bunch of people.  If I'm feeding a bunch of people I'll usually use a whole container of tomatoes, about 20.

2. Next, take your Basil leaves and chop them into small pieces.  Again, how much you use depends on how much you like basil and how much Bruschetta you're making. I love basil, so the more the merrier, in my opinion! Then, put your basil and diced tomatoes in a little bowl and set them aside.

3. Now, take your bread and slice it up! When I'm just eating alone, I'll just pop the little slices in my toaster, but if you're doing a lot of slices, I'd put them on a cookie sheet and toast them in your oven.

4. Once you've toasted your bread, grab your garlic and pull off a clove. Slice the clove in half and rub it lightly across the toasted bread. This will give it a great taste. You don't even have to rub it very hard on the bread, just a light swipe on each piece will be fine!

5. Then take your olive oil and give the tomatoes and basil a little splash. You don't want too much, just enough to kind of give everything something to stick together. After that, give it some salt. A lot of people are bashful with salt, but one thing our italian missionary friends taught us was that more salt=better. It adds a lot of flavor and find I rarely, if ever, over-salt my bruschetta.

Now you're ready! Just spoon a portion onto each of your pieces of toasted bread and proceed to consume deliciousness! You can also add some cheese to your toast if you like. I started putting thin slices of parmesan cheese on the bread before toasting it in the oven, so it was melted on there. Also delicious.  There are tons of ways to do bruschetta, but I love this simple, quick and easy method.  Plus, it's cheap!

 

Roasted Chicken with Veggies

(recipe adapted slightly from Real Simple and Prevention)
Ingredients

2 tablespoons softened butter
1 ½ pounds small potatoes (appx 15)
1 pound medium carrots (appx 6)
1 pound radishes (appx 6)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 3.5 to 4 lb chicken
1 lemon
8 sprigs fresh thyme
kitchen twine

1. Heat oven to 425° F and prepare the vegetables. Scrub the potatoes. Peel the carrots and halve them lengthwise, then chop in half. Place the vegetables in a large roasting pan or baking dish and toss with the olive oil, plus ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

2. Prick your lemon several times with a  knife and place it in the chicken cavity with the thyme. Rub the outside of the chicken with softened butter and season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Tie the chicken's legs together with kitchen twine and place on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan.

3. Put the chicken in the oven and roast until the vegetables are tender, the chicken is golden brown, and the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a fork, 65-75 minutes, or if you use an instant-read thermometer, it should register 165° F when inserted in the thickest part of the thigh. Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.
I've been obsessed with roasting veggies this summer, so this meal was perfect.  After we had dinner I took the rest of the meat off the chicken and then with what was leftover after that we made a chicken stock!  Dan's been really into making stocks lately.  We've made a couple veggie stocks and this was our first time making a chicken stock.  It's nice because you can freeze it and save it for whenever you need it!  Making stock is also a great way to use some of your kitchen scraps!




photos of me by Dan. wine provided by Francis Ford Coppola winery