Holiday Recipes Abound!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. However, I've decided that from this year on, I'll be referring to it as "Fall Harvest." Why? Well, the reasoning is that "Thanksgiving" refers to a time of thanks, despite the fact that the people originally on this continent, Native Americans, lost their land and livelihood to the people that eventually became known as Americans. (Yes, I'm one of those slightly liberal-minded people, so shun me if you must.) However, I still love the traditions behind the holiday- the importance of family, ritual and fellowship with food as the centerpiece. Food is paramount in my life (as is family, of course!) and I couldn't leave you all with empty psychological bellies! So, in the spirit of the Fall Harvest, here are three of my top recipes that I've scoped out for you:

1. Sweet Paul's Stuffing.
Vegetarians can use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock...or you can cheat, just this once. It's the holidays, after all!


2. A la Alison's Sweet potato gnocchi with Brussel sprouts and Sweet cream sauce
I went to grade school with Alison, and she's just started up this wonderful foody blog. You should all follow her! She does a fabulous job of tweaking recipes to make them her own.


3. Smitten Kitchen's Upside-down Cranberry Cake.
This is what I'll be bringing to my parents' house this holiday. I love the tart-sweetness of cranberries, and cannot get enough of them when they are in baked goods. Sometimes I feel that they are overlooked.


Let the feast begin!
Have a wonderful, loved-filled holiday.

Eat Your Vegetables

(just don't eat these.) Textile vegetables. They look so real!

{via here}

Be Kind

{via here}

Cocktail Party, Cyclists Only

How clever is this idea? A group of friends dress up in their snazziest suits and dress ensembles, then hop onto their bicycles to ride to their own cocktail party?





Top hats in place of helmets, and pumps instead of clip shoes. I love it. (I'm obviously ignoring the blatant disregard for safety here, but it's just so cute!)

{all images via LetsGoRideABike}

Emma's Short Hair

Emma Watson. I cannot get enough of her short-short hair.

{image via here}

For A Case of the Mondays

Don't you just want to pick up this cutey, and tickle his (or her?) tummy and make them giggle uncontrollably???

For the irrepressible case of the Mondays...a few minutes in advance.

{image via here}

From one of my Favorites

I am an avid reader of Pacing the Panic Room. I cannot really say what it was that particularly drew me to this blog. I don't have children (although one day, I hope I do), I am not married (I do have a pretty wonderful boyfriend, though) and I am the most amateur photographer you will ever meet (canon powershot is my tool of choice). It would seem as if I'm getting absolutely nothing out of this blog! However, Ryan (the author, dad, photographer, husband, etc.) is a fantastic writer, sharer, and image capturer. (I know, not a real word.) His pictures are truly inspiring, and he's not just photographing random crap all day. He uses his power for good.

Anyway, today he had some great insight into following your passion. It hit close to home for me, since I've been having difficulty as of late with my desire to become a nurse. I found myself utterly stuck this weekend, and sobbing like a big baby over the fact that I haven't even finished my prerequisite classes yet. This gave me perspective. It made me shut up and tell myself that a pity parade is getting me nowhere. It is time to get up and get going! :

"My best friend Devin told me once that pretty much anything you dream up that you want to do well, will take you at the very minimum seven years to become decent at it. Seven years of practice and education and pushing yourself to get better before you can even think about telling anyone you are good at it. I didn't believe him at first. I finally get it. Keep at it. That is what I tell myself every time I see inspiring images coming out of people and I feel like I am never going to get there. Keep at it."

So there you go. Don't try to look around at what everybody else is doing- it's distracting, unnerving, and overall unproductive. All that time you spend comparing yourself to others, or looking at what you have yet to achieve, you could instead spend getting there- getting to your destination.

Keep at it. You're doing just fine.

missing bike

I thought this was hilarious- had to share!

{via here}

The Blue Hour

I have re-vamped my reading selection. sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit and see what's out there.

Check out this great photography blog, The Blue Hour. One of my favorite posts/series is "on sunday." It reminds me of weekend bliss and going into coffee shops without a daily schedule to adhere to- just me and my coffee (and pastries! don't forget the pastries).





Other blogs I've added to my reading list:
Orangette
Cook and Eat
Fresh 365

...do you see a trend here? My mind has been gravitating heavily towards food as of late. I feel as if the only way to rectify this situation to give in. Maybe this weekend will turn into a cooking/baking extravaganza...who knows.

Happy Friday.

[white] jacket required

This past weekend I went to Dallas to celebrate the man's birthday, as well as his white coat ceremony. We pretty much ate our way through the weekend (what else did you think we'd do?) I will admit, I went into Dallas with (only slightly) low expectations, but the food quickly surpassed my judgment. We first went to The French Room, a "too expensive, but did it anyway for birthday's sake" kind of place. I tend to pay little attention to prices when the food is so delicious...and the company just as much so ;) It's as if I'm in a food coma- you could probably put me in debt, as long as you feed me amazing food and slide the bill in front of me within 1 hour of consuming it all.





Saturday we stopped at Urban Dog Coffee before heading to the white coat ceremony. Outside they were holding a dog adoption event, with all the pooches dressed up for Halloween! It was adorable and I couldn't help snagging a few photos before we left.




This picture makes me crack up- Salman's family was there for the ceremony, and I was sweating bullets the entire time. When his brother asked us if we wanted our picture taken, I was so nervous to get too close to Salman in case his parents were watching...so I awkwardly side-hugged him for the photo.



After the ceremony we had an enormous dinner at the family's house. His mother cooked us a full-on Pakistani meal, with dessert to match. I was practically busting out of my dress as I continued to eat the last bites off my plate. (sorry, no pictures to share...we ate it that fast!)

Sunday before I left all teary-eyed for the airport, we ventured to The Grape Restaurant, an indoor and outdoor eatery that is famous for its brunch menu. Cinnamon pull-apart and polenta fritters, oh my! Cappuccino was magnifique.








...At first I thought that a vegetarian probably doesn't bode well in beef-driven Dallas. However, I was able to get by with a very satisfied palette, plus food to-go!

Thank you, babe, for such a great weekend.

love in two languages

J'Adore these foody-specific Paris Versus New York prints!



via here.