January so far

 Unwinding after a long day with some Irish hot chocolate, crowded on top with tiny marshmallows.

 A tasty new-to-me cocktail!  Amaretto sour with prosecco- recipe to follow soon!

 A hearty and soul-warming breakfast: collard greens with pine nuts, buttered toast and hot lemon water.

 We drove to Great Falls, VA with the Diegos this weekend; what a gorgeous sight.

 Big curry noodle bowl for dinner last week- slurpy and tasty!  I'll post the recipe soon.

Birthday balloons caught in the trees next to our dog park.

2012 Resolutions

Ah, I love the beginning of a new year!  2012 is going to get busier until the wedding in March; I plan on relaxing in front of the tv with Friday Night Lights and Battlestar to chill out when it gets stressful.  In April, I get to relax and do things like 'run a half marathon' and 'visit Austin, TX with Jess!' Some of these resolutions may not seem impressive, but driving in DC terrifies me, and Dupont Circle is the craziest roundabout in the city!  And, clearly, I need to work on my saving, hence the fiscal resolution.  I've been dating JP for nearly 6 years (!!), and have yet to master his native tongue, so having 'a conversation with Patricia in Spanish' will be a long time coming.
There are so many other things to do, but this will be a good start!

The end of 2011

John Paul and Mia enjoyed their first Summers Christmas!  Lots of champagne and gift unwrapping.  How do you like this new slippers?

 A Publix sub!!  Oh my goodness, I wish there were Publixes up here in DC...

The Fame! shot of most of the cousins.

 Merry Christmas from Aunt Nesi and Summer Jean.

Mia likes being in the car.

Second Christmas  at the Shelton house!

Hi Grandma in North Carolina!

Hey Handsome!

Lunch with Latty at Luna!  Mmmmm....garlic knots...

Four-wheeling with Pablo and Patricia in Athens.  Mia runs fast!

Happy 2012!  Hope yours is wonderful!

The shabby chic bridal shower

I'm pretty sure you know by now that I'm a lucky girl, and have plenty to be thankful for.  Over the holidays, I was most thankful that my sister is Haley.  She is truly remarkable, having planned a perfectly beautiful bridal shower for Christmas Eve.

To be honest, I didn't make it easy, requesting no traditional games (no toilet paper gowns, etc.) and a champagne bar.  Wow, did this girl deliver!

She came up with the idea for a shabby chic brunch affair, complete with tasty pastries from Mr. Bread in Stuart, a gorgeous bellini bar with peaches and blueberries, handmade swizzle sticks, and a famous couples version of Charades.

Haley also collected and made these cute-as-a-button vases, with bows and lace.  I love them!  She's crafty.

My mom made up some adorable bunting, fun fabric bookmarks for favors, and even outfitted Betty (Haley's wire mannequin) in a floral apron.  The apron is now hanging in my kitchen!

Christmas Eve may seem an untraditional time for a bridal shower, but it was the most convenient time for the wonderful women in my life to gather, as my family would only be in the same place that day and Christmas!  I'm so glad that everyone made the effort to come out, including my best high school girlfriends Jessilyn and Jordan, and my Grandma in North Carolina, who reworked her holiday plans to be there!

I should also give a shout-out to my dad, who brought GINC to the shower and entertained John Paul during the party.  Thanks, Daddy Man!

Haley, thank you so, so much for putting together such a wonderful shower.  It was everything I asked for, and more!  There's no one else who could have pulled off such a cute morning; I love you bunches.

p.s. I wore a great silk shirtdress from Madewell, with a belt from H&M.  Just in case anyone wondered!

What I am looking forward to this break

Good morning, and a merry Christmas Eve eve to you! 

Before signing off for 2011, a list of things I am looking forward to over the next 10 days:

-Haley's bridal shower for me tomorrow!  She is such a wonderful maid of honor!

-Opening gifts with my goofy, entertaining, loving family.

-Waking up with JP in Florida on Christmas day.

-Lighting candles at Christmas Eve service...such a lovely tradition.

-Ringing in 2012 with the Diegos!

-A quick stop in Saint Augustine for Schmagel's on our way to GA from FL.

-Being in the car with my little family, listening to audiobooks and music and talking about how cute Mia is sleeping in the backseat.

-Closing out this year with a smile.

2011 has been a wonderful year that really allowed me to grow into the person I want to be.  It's going to be hard to top, but I think 2012 will give it a run for its money!

Orangettes

Orangettes: candied orange peels dipped in chocolate.  See also: a reason for living.
Seriously, it's hard to stop at eating just one of these beautiful treats.  The orange peels are bright and sweet, tempered by the bitterness of dark chocolate.  I made these on a whim over the weekend (John Paul was out of town and a bag of oranges was less than $4 at Trader Joe's), and am so glad to discover how easy they are!

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe, which worked wonderfully with a few tweaks.  After reading some comments from her original post, I blanched the peels a total of three times, each time using a fresh pot of boiling water.  I also left the peels to dry for 12 hours after simmering them in the simple syrup, which made them much easier to handle when dipping into chocolate. 

I found it easiest to score the orange peel about 8 times down the sides, peel away the pith, then slice into strips.  Also, I used organic navel oranges to avoid the wax sprayed on to maintain freshness.

They're so wonderful!  Slightly bittersweet, with a crunchy chocolate coating.  If you need a tasty party treat, I highly recommend orangettes!

The Good, Good Pig

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My mom read this book ages ago, and recommended it.  Finally, I picked up Sy Montgomery's The Good, Good Pig last week, and am so glad I took her advice. 
Sy and her husband, Howard, adopted a runty pig and named it Christopher Hogwood.  Although they originally thought the pig might not make it very long (runts usually don't), Chris ended up living 14 wonderful years, tipping the scales at 750 (!!) pounds at his heftiest.  Sy and Howard are both free-lance writers, which could sometimes close them off to their neighbors and other "human" companions, but Chris showed them that it takes a community to raise a pig.  While gathering slops for Chris, Sy developed relationships with her neighbors; when he escaped from his pen, the town policeman knew to track him down with apples kept in his truck; national photographers came to visit and take photos of Chris dressed up for greeting cards.  While Sy traveled to the Amazon and India for stories, thoughts of Chris (and her menagerie of other pets, including chickens and a border collie) grounded her to the home she had with Howard in New Hampshire.  Throughout the memoir, Sy includes tidbits on pigs, including their history of being worshipped by humans, different breeds, and the traits they share with people.  It's a great, quick read that will reinvigorate your love for animals.

Loads of unprepped food pictures

On my phone are several photos of recipes half-completed, meals that I put together and took only a few photos of.  Certainly, I can't do a whole post on a recipe with just one photo; what would you have to go on that it's tasty, other than my word?  Instead, I offer you this Frankenstein-worthy collection of cookie dough, a delicious salad, and scones that will knock your socks off with their beauty.

I made a copycat Momofuku Milkbar cookie called Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip, with dough that is absolutely to die for.  Don't even bother baking them; just put the dough directly into your mouth.  YUM!  I didn't make the cornflake crunch (just used Frosted Flakes), and definitely give the cookies tons of space to spread out if you do so choose to bake them.  They get really large and flat.  Perfect for breaking into bits and dunking into some cold almond milk!

During a healthier phase, this Toasted Kale and Coconut Salad hit the spot.  I used regular shredded coconut rather than large flake, and it turned out wonderfully!  A great combination of salty (soy sauce), slightly sweet (coconut), and filling (brown rice).  Definitely give it a try if you're doing some holiday detox.  Also, I highly recommend you checking out the rest of the Shutterbean blog; she's full of delicious, healthy treats, including some truly dangerous cocktails.

I've made these Lavender and Toasted Walnuts Scones about four times now, and each time get tons of compliments on their delicate flavor and gorgeous presentation.  Try cutting them into different shapes; I've done the big scones, smaller squares, tiny triangles (pictured). 

Well, it's not a perfect post, but sometimes life gets in the way of good intentions.  Certainly don't hold my lack of photography against any of these recipes!

The Emperor of All Maladies

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Siddhartha Mukherjee is one of those rare non-fiction authors who has taken a difficult subject, cancer, and made it a fleshed-out character in a biography.  Subtitled, coincidentally enough, A Biography of Cancer, Emperor follows the history of cancer and people's devotion to finding its cure over 5,000 years.  It was named a Top Ten Book of 2010 by the Times, and he spoke incredibly eloquently at the National Book Festival this year; I'm so glad I picked it up.
Mukherjee traces cancer back to an Egyptian queen who, upon discovering a lump in her breast, demands her Greek servant to cut it out.  A thoroughly brief footnote, nothing further of this queen is mentioned in any records.  However, the author takes the reader through a history of cancer's path beginning at its first note, all the way to current treatments being used in oncology wards.  Ancient physicians gave cancer its name because it looked like a crab, with its legs spread out around a round protrusion.  Cancer has since become a force to be reckoned with, as it affects over 7 million people in the world and will continue to do so as our population ages (cancer was relatively rare when our average life span was only about 40 years old; as we age, our cells are more likely to "lose their way," as it were).  Although I am no physician, Mukherjee uses layman's vocabulary to get his point acorss, making the book lucid and easy to follow. 
Most of the action happens during the 20th century, with Sidney Farber, the first man to successfully use chemotherapy to treat childhood leukemia and a driving force behind many radical ideas for cancer research, and Mary Lasker, a philanthropist who badgered Congress into giving cancer research more money.  Scattered throughout are stories of Mukherjee's own patients, giving the reader a wonderful blend of perspectives: the oncologist, the researcher, the fundraiser, the patient, the historian. 
At over 470 pages, reading this is certainly a large undertaking; I highly recommend you give it a shot, though.  Even those who are more into fiction than tomes of nonfiction will be pleasantly surprised by its accessibility.

Happy Holidays 2011!

Merry Christmas!  JP and I spent Sunday morning decorating our home for the holidays; our tree is extra lovely this year.  It's cluttered, with silver balls and a few mismatched ornaments, but I love it. Perfect in its imperfections.

This year I just taped up some ornaments inside of our frame; looks festive and unexpected with the heavy black plaster.  I may add some more to the mix!

Some of the decorations are super simple.  Here, we have a number of paper grocery bags, cut up and taped into a garland.  A lovely way to greet people to the hallway!

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a little dessert party on Sunday.  As per usual, I gathered way too much food: lumps o' coal (candy cane bits covered in dark chocolate), homemade caramel corn, croissants from Le Pain Quotidien (that was my man's touch!), homemade coconut-lime bars, homemade frosted flake-chocolate chip-marshmallow cookies, and pretzels with cocoa almond butter.  And then guests brought more food!  It was a very indulgent afternoon.

In addition, I put some hot chocolate and spiced apple cider on the stove, with various toppings.  I must say, the liqueurs were a hit, at least with me!

John Paul, Mia, Winfred and I hope you're enjoying the holiday season, and all of the wonderful celebrations that go along with it!