Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Snow Day(s)
We're buried! About 12" of snow, 35 mph winds, and -50 degree windchills filled our weekend and the first part of the week.
I use the term "snow day" rather loosely. Even though the county had closed all roads and nobody was allowed out except emergency workers, I got several messages from my managers making it clear that I was expected to be at work. Jon brought me in on Monday, as there was no way the Malibu was making it out of our unplowed, drifting, neighborhood.
After working a full day, I was informed that legally I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital since the roads were closed -- I was only allowed to COME to work. The hospital told us that police officers were fining people returning home $500 to $2500 for being out. Our CEO told us that our safety was "first priority" (although ... apparently only AFTER I had seen all the patients) and recommended we sleep at the hospital. Um, no thank you.
Millie is very displeased that we won't let her outside.
We're thankful for a warm house, 4 wheel drive, and some sun today to begin to melt the roads! Stay warm!
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Kitchen Updates
This winter we haven't done many house projects, but recently we made some updates in our kitchen.
This faucet (my Christmas present) is a Ruvati commercial-style pullout spray faucet. It switches to and from the spray setting by twisting the end of the faucet head. We bought it from Overstock.com with one of their holiday %-off coupons. Almost makes you want to come over and wash my dishes, right?
Below is the "Before" shot of our old faucet. It still worked fine, and we gave it to friends who were excited to inherit a faucet with a pullout sprayer.
We also switched out the glass shades on the kitchen pendant lights. They were a yellow nearly-opaque glass that I didn't like. They always were dirty always looked dirty, didn't give off much light, and the bare lightbulb hung out the bottom of them. (You can't tell in this picture).
One particularly aggravating Saturday, we hunted EVERYWHERE for a shade that we preferred. Fail. We gave up and ordered these from West Elm. They were back ordered. Here they are!
Since the bulbs are exposed, we used Edison bulbs with the fancy filaments. Those two updates really changed the feel of our kitchen! We also have a tile order on backorder, so expect a backsplash sometime in early February!
Tonight, we're staying in. All the roads in our county are closed due to winter weather, and the wind chill is supposed to dip down to -50. Jon has already snowblowed the driveway three times today. Unfortunately, I am the closest employee to work so there will be no snow day for me tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Pear Pecan Steel Cut Oats
Feeling fancy for breakfast? This is a favorite at our house on Saturday mornings when I wake up a little later and have time to spend in the kitchen making breakfast instead of rushing out the door smoothie-in-hand.
Typically I make a big batch and then save it in single-serve pyrex containers so I can rush out the door oatmeal-in-hand the coming Monday. If you've never tried steel cut oats, they're a little chewier than the rolled kind.
Here's what you'll need:
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. steel cut oats
1 T + 1 tsp butter
1/2 c. pecans
2 tsp sugar
2 pears (peeled, cored, sliced into chunks). If you don't have or don't like pears, try this recipe with apples instead.
3 T honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Half and half
In a medium size sauce pan, boil 4 c. water and salt. Add steel cut oats and wait for it to boil again. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer (uncovered) for 25-35 minutes, stirring often.
In a frying pan, melt 1 tsp butter. Add pecans and sugar. Stir 1 minute: the sugar should melt and coat the toasty pecans. Move them to a cutting board and chop coarsely when cooled.
Right before your oatmeal is done, melt a tablespoon of butter in the frying pan again. Add the pears and stir occasionally for 3 minutes. The juice should come out of them and they should be hot all the way through. Add honey and cinnamon.
Split the oatmeal into 4-5 bowls (depending on how hungry you are). If you don't have enough people to eat it all immediately, portion some into individual pyrex bowls for reheating later. I have a pyrex obsession. Store leftover pears and pecans separately so the pears stay juicy and the pecans stay crunchy. When I reheat the oats in the microwave, I add a little milk to keep them from getting sticky.
Serve hot oatmeal topped with pears, sprinkled with pecans, drizzled with cold half and half. Not room temperature, not skim milk.
I always run out of pears and pecans by the time I get to the last of the oatmeal cups, but then I eat it with coconut or maple syrup or blueberries ... etc. What's your favorite way to eat oatmeal? Are you more of a steel-cut or a rolled oats family?
See more recipes I've been trying in the recipe tab up top!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Greek Quinoa and Avocados
Winter means I crave carbs and hot chocolate for about 5 months straight. Pasta, homemade bread, maybe pasta served with homemade bread ... It was time to add a lighter layer to my food pyramid.
Adapted from this recipe at Fitnessmagazine.com
Makes: 2 meals or 4 side salads
Ingredients:
1/2 c. uncooked quinoa
1 c. water
1/4 c. chopped red bell pepper
1/2 c. shredded fresh spinach
1/3 c. finely chopped red onion
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced (each person gets half an avocado)
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
Directions
Boil quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Cover and simmer at reduced heat for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.
Remove from heat. Pour in lemon juice, oil, and salt and fluff with fork. Stir in red bell pepper, spinach, and onion.
Place avocado slices on plates. Preferably, get fancy and fan them out. Scoop quinoa mixture on top. Sprinkle with feta.
For more recipes from our table, check out the "recipes" tab up top.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
First House Project: We Painted!
We love our new house! With moving and Christmas and travel and work, we have been so busy -- but I finally have a few pictures to put up! I can't find my camera, so these are all iphone pics. Sorry about that.
Here's a before picture. This color on the walls is the color of every wall and ceiling in the entire house. Jon calls it "Something Beige." It's the same color as the carpet. And the tile. I plan to slowly paint it away...
Last week we painted our bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom walls are Rockport Gray and ceiling is just white ceiling paint. Painting the bedroom and the bathroom took us 12 hours plus paint picking/shopping and taping. I don't think we stopped to eat.
Jon built these end tables over Christmas break with my Dad. Now we need another lamp, and of course they have been discontinued at Pottery Barn. I'm combing ebay.
My half of the closet: A definite upgrade from the ping pong table system we had been using!
Here's the master bath - that door goes to the closet. The color here is Gray Owl.
Looking towards the bedroom, a pocket door separates the bedroom/bathroom.
Double sinks. In some light the walls look blue and sometimes they look more neutral. We got rid of the metal thing over the toilet, and I am trying to Craigslist it.
Terrible picture ... but here's the tub with a large frosted window over it. During the day the bathroom is so much brighter with this color on the wall and white on the ceiling!
Kitchen. We got the chairs at Pier 1 after lots of hunting. We wanted something with a back, and agreed that a wood stool was going to be too much wood and too dark. We thought about fabric and found some parson's style chairs we loved, but they were going to be $350 a chair. No thanks. Jon vetoed anything modern looking or metal. We think these are just right in the space!
The kitchen opens up to the living room. We chose not to put our dining table in the "dinette" area because we already have an eating area at the island and thought it would be too cramped. Plus, we have nothing else to put in our dining room.
The doorway in the back has a bathroom to the left and the garage to the right. The large white doors are a PANTRY!!
We picked out these side chairs from Target.com, got a great deal, and they shipped for free! Now we can have two friends over :)
Obviously we need a coffee table. We also need ideas on how to store DVDs and games since we no longer have a spot for an entertainment center. (I'm also going to craigslist that).
Here's a garage picture: Jon finished all the sheetrock, painted, and put up corrugated metal and plywood on the remaining parts. He built himself a work bench, hung everything on the walls, and suspended his truck topper from the ceiling.
The rest of our house is basically half-organized rooms full of leftovers and cloaked in "something beige." I didn't bother to take pictures :)
Right now we're getting lake effect snow! Really it's been a brown winter so far. The lots across the street from us are empty.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
