Saturday, October 31, 2009

best halloween movie?

tim burton's the nightmare before christmas, obvi.

I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace
I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!

do you have a favorite?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

autumnal fuzzies...

well, there's been a lot of blogger buzz about these velvet pumpkins... and seriously, they're awesome. but honestly, are they any cooler and more autumnal than these felt acorns?


obviously not! i'm in love and want to get some to and make a giant pile in the middle of my coffee table or decorate with them at Thanksgiving...


also, stay tuned! i'm feeling waaaaay better and we've started the $30 challenge over! details this afternoon.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

boo! aborting $30 mission


bad news.... i've been sick sick sick.

initially when we went shopping we hit our target (and even were a little bit below) but then we had to get some orange juice and yogurt and other things like chocolate reisens that make people with flu-like symptoms feel better. the good news is that it worked but unfortunately put us over our $30 budget, besides, i don't much feel like cooking anything beyond cambell's soup.

finally, i went to the doctor and now i've got some antibiotics and today i stayed home from school (which means i've been watching waaaaay too much law&order on tv) so maybe by next sunday all will be well and i can start over. we're NOT giving up the challenge, just postponing it.

stay tuned.

photo from here

Monday, October 12, 2009

$30/week

today was rainy and icky in the ATL... which was fine since boone and i were swamped with homework. our only plans (other than writing our papers) were to go to the grocery store for the week and watch house. (which was fab, btw).

i mention that we went to the groc. because this week we're participating in a hunger awareness project coordinated by tami of the ATL food blog, running with tweezers.

here's the deal. we're going to eat on $30/person this week and i'll blog about it. we're not going to cheat and eat things we already have in the freezer or pantry... nope. today, we're going to the store and starting from scratch since the national average for a person receiving food assistance is between $21 and $24 per week. can you believe how low that is?

if you're as incredulous as i was then here are some other hunger stats from her blog:
check back for our grocery list and recipes from this week and to see how our experiment is going...

***update
so as it turns out, this wasn't a stretch for us. in fact, i did a little backwork and research and realized that, er...um.. this was what we ALREADY spent on groceries each week. i admit, i was pretty surprised to realize that we were completely capable of meeting this challenge. I didn't post our recipes because it sort of seemed like cheating. I'll try again soon and maybe try to create fab, easy things on this "budget"

Friday, October 9, 2009

you say it's your birthday...


happy birthday to my dad! if i was at home i'd try to make him something this lovely. (but chocolate.)

from serious eats

did you see it??

no, not Obama winning the Noble peace prize (but, hey, congrats!) i'm talking about the really BIG event on TV this week... jim and pam's wedding!

so i've been sick sick sick all week, but i pulled myself together for the office last night since
we've been really pumped about this episode forever. maybe too pumped.

either way, there were some super awkward moments, but, it's the office...so that's no surprise.
on top of the episode being sweet, and funny, and just all around wonderful, it really keeps all the wedding stuff in perspective. watch it. here. right now.

photo: ew cover

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

seriously...


i'm not kidding, guys... i want your fall recipes!

get excited! it's the fall recipe swap...

so a friend made a post yesterday calling for everyone's fav fall recipes, and i think i need to follow suit and expand the pool of delishy options.

so, if you feel so inclined (and i hope you do) then post your fav recipes for cool weather food as a comment on my blog.

i know it's a pain to type a bunch of stuff into a little box, but think of the time you spend leaving the comment as service for the greater good. seriously, we'll all benefit from the recipe sharing!

i posted my favorite cool weather recipe from veg. times over on her blog...and here's my other new favorite from the flying biscuit cafe.

really and truly my fav fall meal is my grandmother's chicken and dumplings, (but that's a family secret and you just can't post those on the internet). we just ate this vegetable cobbler and it's warm, filling, and super cheap to make. basically this recipe is same as the FB, but i leave out the turnip and add more carrots. Also, you can use store-bought pie crust if you're in a rush.

For filling: 3 Tbs butter, divided
1 lg onion
2 stalks celery
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes cut in half
3 lg carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
2 cups frozen peas
8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup chives
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt
1 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbs all purpose-flour
In a heavy stock pot, melt 2 Tbs butter over med. heat. Add onion and celery and saute until tender and golden. Add potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, chives and seasonings. Stir well. Add vegetable broth and water and bring to a strong simmer. cover and cook until everything is tender (15 minutes or so). Stir in cream and add peas.
Mix remaining butter and flour into a small bowl and blend. stir into stew and simmer until it thickens slightly. Ladle stew into ramekins or large corningware dish.

For Cobbler crust:
2 cups flour
1 Tbs double acting baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 Tbs chilled butter cut into 1/2" pieces
2 lg eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
preheat oven to 425 degrees. sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. add butter and rub it in with fingertips until mixture resembles a course meal. Add eggs and milk and stir until soft moint dough forms.
Turn dough out onto generously floured surface. knead gently just to combine. Place an equal amount on top of each of your containers with the vegetable mixture and press down. Bake until topping is golden (18-25 minutes).


sorry that both of my recipes i shared are sans-meat... but they're both delish, promise!

Monday, October 5, 2009

make me an offer...

zoiks! so i've got a while until graduation but i've already started the job hunt and ---let me tell you-- job searching (and follow up) is so scary. i wish these t-shirts would work.



any advice for me on how to lick my wounds and cope, friends?

photos from SOCIALisBETTER.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

marriage (dis)parity...

you all know where boone and i stand on the issue of marriage equality... and if you don't, then you can find out here, here, and here.


this isn't really new news, but today's nyt published "The High Price of Being a Gay Couple" about the economic disparity between couples who are allowed the legal and tax benefits associated with marriage (legal unions) and those who are not. I think it's a really well written and researched piece.

Here's what they came up with, "In our worst case, the couple’s lifetime cost of being gay was $467,562. But the number fell to $41,196 in the best case for a couple with significantly better health insurance, plus lower taxes and other costs."

YIKES! that's a whole lot of disparity even in the best case scenario.

thoughts?

photo from flickr.

Friday, October 2, 2009

friday flashback...

whoa....who's this cool guy?



i'll give you a hint: he's not boone and he's the only other important man in my life.
hope your friday is as smooth as the guy in these photos.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

at your service.. .

my grandfather was an top-notch athlete (he was inducted into my state's sports hall of fame for golf!) this means that my family ended up with a really beautiful collection of silver pieces (read: my parents and aunt, not me). when i saw this article about collecting hotel silver, it made me think of it. I bet I could find some of my own pieces at rummage sales and flea markets... anyway, enjoy these pretty pictures from country living and start rummaging around for your own fun finds!