Welcome to the Jungle

Since I recently blamed my lack of posting on yardwork, it's only fair that I show you what we've been up to.

It's hard to appreciate just how overgrown our yard was if you've never seen it in real life, but hopefully the glorious iPhone pics below will give you some idea of what we were faced with.

The house had been vacant for many years before we purchased it, so in addition to all of the fixing that the INSIDE needed, the OUTSIDE was it's own special challenge.

It's kind of like The Secret Garden. BEFORE Mary showed up.

We are in no way "finished" (and I doubt we will ever be- or so we are told), but thanks to Husband's dedication and genuine fondness of yardwork (I know - I'm a lucky gal), we've gone from this:

Anybody back there??

to this:

Hey look, you can see stuff!

And this:

to this!

Oh, and also this:

Much better, yes?

Next up is adding a patio (which I am MOST excited about), where I can happily sip this:

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade - recipe coming soon!

curled up in one of these:

Source

Sidebar: These pics are all of the back yard. The front yard isn't quite camera-ready yet.

Happy Monday!

Spicy Shrimp Cakes

Just when I thought I was on a blog-posting roll, I disappear for three weeks. I blame it on yardwork. And also Daylight Savings Time. How is it that one measly hour can make me feel like I've lost a week of my life?

Anyway. Turns out I STILL don't know how to use our new camera (remember when I promised some "almost-after" shots here?). I took about a hundred pictures of our kitchen two weeks ago (on a lovely day with great lighting!) and they're all terrible. I know I'm being ridiculous, but I'm just not ready to post about the kitchen that I love with pictures that I hate! So instead....

Yum.

New recipe!

I've been a little Panko-happy lately (see Risotto Cakes), and thought it would be fun to try making shrimp or crab cakes. I've never made either. Plus, they seem summer-y. And I'm VERY anxious for summer.

There are lots of yummy-looking recipes out there, but this one was the winner. You'll notice that my shrimp cakes are sans corn & avocado salsa. That's because I opted for ready-made guacamole from Whole Foods (because it's the BEST) and Pace Chunky Salsa (because I'm LAZY). Next time, I will definitely make the fresh salsa - I'm sure it's delish, and probably a better compliment to the spicy cakes. But my garnishments weren't too bad either. According to my guinea pigs (thanks Heather and Pete!), this recipe is a keeper.

Spicy Shrimp Cakes with Corn and Avocado Salsa

Cooking Light, November 2006

 

Ingredients

Shrimp Cakes:

• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), divided

Salsa:

• 1 cup frozen white corn, thawed 
• 3/4 cup diced peeled avocado
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped seeded poblano pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. To prepare cakes, place shrimp in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until finely chopped. Set aside. NOTE: I used fresh shrimp from Whole Foods. At their suggestion, I blanched the shrimp in boiling water for approximately 45 seconds, then dumped in an ice bath. I let them cool completely before pulsing (otherwise, they would get mushy in the food processor and ruin the texture).
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add garlic to pan; sauté for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Place bell pepper mixture in a large bowl. Add shrimp, green onions, and the next 6 ingredients (through egg), stirring well. Stir in cilantro and 1/4 cup panko.
3. Divide shrimp mixture into 10 equal portions, shaping each portion into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Dredge both sides of patties in remaining 1/2 cup panko. Chill at least one hour.
4. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 5 cakes to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan; cover and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining cakes. NOTE: I also used a drizzle of olive oil in the pan, just to help the cakes get crispy and golden.
5. To prepare salsa, combine corn and remaining ingredients; stir gently. Serve immediately with shrimp cakes.

Enjoy!

The Tolix Chair

I think I'm a couple years late to the Tolix Chair party, but I've been seeing them everywhere lately and I LOVE them.

The chair on its own would normally be a little too industrial for my taste, but paired with a rustic farm table, it's perfection.

Husband has promised to make me a lovely dining table for our porch, out of some old doors from the house. My next step is to convince him how PERFECT these chairs would look with it.

source

source



source



source

Am I right??

Taste of Homewood

I must give a quick plug for one of my favorite foodie events of the year - the 2012 Annual Taste of Homewood, hosted by the Homewood Chamber of Commerce. This year's event will take place February 23rd from 5:30pm-8:30pm at Rosewood Hall, SoHo. Participants include local favorites like DoDiYo's, Demetri's BBQ, Lovoy's, Pastry Art, Urban Cookhouse and more! Good People Brewery will be on hand to share their fantastic beers, in addition to local wine vendors.

Be sure to check out the website for more details and ticket info. Don't miss it!

Mushroom, Sausage and Sage Risotto

 
I'm kind of obsessed with risotto (or all things Italian and full of carbs), and have wanted to try making it for a loooooong time. But I've been intimidated by the somewhat laborious process - my easily-distracted mind is not well-suited to standing in one place and stirring constantly for 30 minutes.

I realize that it is typically unwise to try a brand-new recipe for a special occasion...so naturally, I chose Valentine's Day as the perfect time to give risotto a shot. If things turned disastrous, we could just order pizza. Everybody wins!

I scoured my cookbooks for a recipe, and found one that I knew Husband would love. I proudly showed him a picture of the Italian Sausage and Mushroom Risotto from William-Sonoma's Weeknight Fresh and Fast cookbook (which I LOVE, btw) and said, "This is what I'm making you for Valentine's Day!!". He kind of frowned and said, "Is that the weird rice?".

Exactly.

Anyway, long story short, it turned out KIND of amazing and I am super-excited to share it. I didn't exactly follow the recipe verbatim - I changed the order a little bit, based on directions that I read in other risotto recipes. I also used Jimmy Dean's Sage Sausage, instead of Italian, because Publix was out (blast!). You could get probably get really fancy and use Italian sausage with fresh sage and get equally delicious results. In case it's not obvious, I adore sage.

Mushroom, Sausage and Sage Risotto  
adapted from Weeknight Fresh and Fast, Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

• 5 cups chicken broth 
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 8 oz baby bella mushrooms (aka criminis), sliced
• 16 oz sage-flavored sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)
• 1/2 cup vermouth or dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan, plus more for garnish
• Italian parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and brown 5-8 minutes, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Remove from pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Return pan to heat and add mushrooms (adding a little more olive oil, if needed). Add a pinch of salt to mushrooms and saute until brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large pot, then reduce to simmering and keep warm over low heat.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until onion is soft and translucent (but not brown), about 5-8 minutes minutes. Add the rice and stir until the rice is opaque, about 2 minutes.
4. Add 1/2 cup vermouth or wine to rice and onion. Cook, stirring constantly, until the vermouth or wine has been absorbed, about 2 minutes.
5. Add 3/4 cup of the warm chicken stock, and stir until it is absorbed by the rice. You may want to adjust the heat here - the mixture should simmer and cook slowly. Continue to add the broth about 3/4 cup at a time, stirring continuously with each addition, until the liquid is almost absorbed by the rice. The entire process should take approximately 25-30 minutes. Start tasting around 20 minutes, to check the texture of the rice. When finished, it should be tender and creamy, but still firm to the bite (al dente). NOTE: An iPod and a glass of wine are a good idea during this step.
6. Stir in drained sausage and mushrooms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Stir in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
8. Transfer to serving bowls; garnish with parsley and more parmesan. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!
 

 Bonus: Make risotto cakes with the leftovers. DELISH.

Addicted to Pinning

My bedtime ritual used to go something like this:

1. Look at the clock and say, "If I'm asleep in 10 MINUTES, I can get ---- hours of sleep!" (I refuse to admit how many that is, just know that it's more than the average person needs each night - or so my friend Heather tells me).
2. Get in bed and read, usually far longer than however many minutes I needed to be asleep in to achieve desired rest.

NOW it goes something like this:
1. Look at the clock and say, "If I'm asleep in 10 MINUTES, I can get ---- hours of sleep!"
2. Get in bed and play on Pinterest.

It's not like this is a new thing - many of us have been obsessed with Pinterest for months. I pretty much feel like this on a daily basis:


via

 Anyway, Pinterest has been an endless source of ideas and inspiration for the house, for everything from decorating and cooking to DIY projects that I can't wait to screw up try.

Here are a few of my faves:

via
For the breakfast nook

via
To eat whilst sitting in breakfast nook



via
For the bedroom



via
For the one-day-baby



via
For the one-day-baby's nursery/guest room


Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 20 minutes of pinning to do before...well, you get the idea.  

It's My Kitchen and I'll Cry If I Want To

I'm pretty sure at some point I promised some backstory on the evolution of the kitchen. Let's start with the cabinets. Funny story.

Well....now it's funny.

I originally wanted white beadboard cabinets with a subway tile backsplash...



via



...clean, yet cottage-y. After many weekend brunches at Home Depot, and a whole lot of back and forth between cabinet styles, colors, configurations, etc., I finally placed an order for Thomasville Ashton in Maple Pearl (white) and waited anxiously for them to arrive. Four weeks later, I excitedly tore open a box and saw........



$%&@!?



Thomasville Cottage. As in, NOT beadboard.



My binder of house things was at my office (it was a Saturday), so I made Husband drive me across town to pick it up so I could confirm that HD screwed up.

Until I opened the binder and realized I signed off on (you guessed it)...Cottage.

Cue meltdown of epic proportions.

Two hours of ugly crying later, we discussed our options. Even though I CLEARLY remembered telling my designer that I had decided on the Ashton, somehow Cottage ended up in the actual order (as I said, there was a lot of back and forth - I'm terribly indecisive). So we decided we could either pay restocking and shipping fees to send back the Cottage and get the Ashton (which Husband was graciously willing to do - I think my meltdown scared him a little), OR I could put on my big girl panties and deal with it.

We chose the latter.

So our new kitchen inspiration became this:

Keep the shaker-style cabinets, lose the subway tile and switch to beadboard backsplash
via

And also this:


Love the combination of open shelving with glass-front doors
via

The mistake ended up being a blessing (kinda). The beadboard backsplash was easier to install than individual subway tiles (not to mention easier on our budget), and we could still achieve the same look. Plus, I learned the importance of READING EVERYTHING A BILLION TIMES BEFORE SIGNING OFF ON IT.

So as a reminder, here is what we started with:

And here is the in-between:

Are we having fun yet???
*Note: Husband got sheets of unfinished beadboard paneling and trim from Lowe's,
then sanded and painted it to match the cabinets. 

Please excuse the quality of the photos. Seems I took 98% of our "progress" shots with my iPhone. In poor lighting.

Good news, though. We recently got what I like to call a "big-girl" camera (YAY!), so I'm going to refrain from posting cruddy pics for a few days while I learn how to use it, and then I'll share some fabulous almost-finished kitchen shots. :)

Happy Monday!

And We're Back!

Yikes. Has it really been 7 months since we've moved? A quick peek at my last post tells me it's true. And by, "I'll be back in a week!" I meant, "See ya in 2012!".

I mean, it's not like we haven't been busy....moving....renovating...holiday-ing. But let's be honest. Sometimes, I'm just lazy. Sometimes, when I'm laying in bed at night, I think of a REALLY GREAT BLOG POST that will surely jump start my creativity and get me back on track. But then I fall asleep and forget what I wanted to say and wake up the next morning and don't feel like blogging anymore.

And so it goes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, returning to this blog is one of my resolutions for 2012 (along with running in a triathlon - I'll pause while you laugh). I'm anxious to share the progress we've made on the house, and the projects we still have to tackle. It's been a fun/crazy/awesome/stressful process. When people ask how we like the new house, I say, "We LOVE it". Sometimes, that's followed by, "But I wish our basement would quit flooding", or "I'm anxious to finish (insert any number of unfinished projects here)". But MOST of the time, we love it. Let's face it - old or new, houses can be a challenge. But I wake up every morning, happy to be here. I try not to take for granted the endless hours of work that Husband, Bill (my FIL) and our parents put in. Without their vision and knowledge (not to mention blood, sweat and tears -- ok, ok, MY tears), we never would have made an offer. I try to remember that when I'm bugging Husband about when we can get the rest of our kitchen cabinets. Turns out I'm OCD and impatient. He is SO lucky.

I still need to sort through millions of pictures from the last few months, but SOON (I mean it, this time!!), I'll post some before/after shots. Or more accurately, before/almost shots.

In the meantime, here's a little peek of what Christmas looked like at our FIRST HOUSE (two months late, but who's counting??).

Enjoy!

Sidenote: Not only was this our first Christmas in the new house, but also our first real tree! We had an artificial tree in the condo, which worked perfectly for our space. Enter new house with 10-foot ceilings. Time for something a little bigger. If Husband thought I was neurotic before, he was in for a surprise. I may or may not have undecorated this tree (twice) because I couldn't get the lights perfectly spaced (bless those little pre-lit trees!!). This was after we took the first tree back because it looked crooked on top of our car (to be fair, we had only just left Costco and gone across the street to Home Depot when I decided we needed another one, so I'm not THAT crazy). While decorating, Husband very sweetly said to me, "Now I'm going to tell you something, and I don't want you to get your feelings hurt"...(don't you love that intro?)..."but I think your neuroses is such that you are not suited to a real tree."

...................

I couldn't even argue.

In Limbo

Well. It's been a week. I won't give you all the details, but it involves sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the middle of boxes with no AC or hot water at the new house, while spending each night still moving things out of the condo. I allowed myself one small breakdown (ok, maybe two) on Wednesday, and then it was back to business.

The upside is that in the grand scheme of things, these are minor inconveniences. Sure, cold showers and stuffy rooms are annoying. But as Husband wisely pointed out, there are people who live without air conditioning and hot water every day. And houses, for that matter. Sometimes, all we I need is a little perspective and thankfulness.

I'll be back this weekend with some more updates and a better attitude. :)

In the meantime, I leave you with these beauties...

What I hope our bedroom will look like, once the mattress is off the floor!
Source: Pinterest (original source unknown)

It's Moving Day....

Let Operation Breakdown commence! :)

Kitchen Update: The Perfect Grey {Paint}

While designing the kitchen has been fun, it hasn't been without it's hiccups. There have been days when you couldn't pay me enough money step foot in Home Depot and the seemingly innocent question of "Hey, when are you going to pick a paint color for the kitchen?" was enough to send me into a downward spiral.

Deciding that I want a grey kitchen should have been be easy enough, right? WRONG. There are only hundreds (thousands?) of shades to choose from, and don't think for one second that what ends up on the wall is going to match what's on the paint chip. In short, paint stresses me out.

Over the course of a month, I purchased 12 different samples of grey paint and put them on the wall....convinced each time that THIS was the one.

I hated all of them.

One looked purple, one looked blue, one was too light, one was too dark, is that one even grey at all??? And on it went...



Does that stress out anyone else?

 I was convinced that the colors looked "off" because they were being painted on an yellowish-ivory wall, as opposed to a crisp white (although both Husband and a gentleman at Benjamin Moore assured me that was not the case).

Finally, Husband very sweetly said, "If you don't pick a paint color TODAY, I am picking it for you."

Well, when you say it like that.... :)

So off we went to Sherwin-Williams, picked two more colors and hoped for the best.

I'm actually quite surprised that Husband didn't immediately break out the champagne when I sent him this text:

Here's the swatch...

Sherwin Williams - Mineral Deposit

And here's what it looked like going on the wall (please excuse cruddy iPhone pic, it was all I had!)...

I LOVE it. In certain lighting, there are hints of blue - which is pretty much perfect, because our granite slab (unexpectedly) has some blues and greys running through it.

At the end of the day, it was definitely worth the stress (and countless quarts of paint) to find the "perfect" grey.

But I hope I never have to pick paint colors again. :)

Homemade Spice Jars

Can't wait to make these....




Adorable spice jars from Burgon and Ball

 
...to put here...



Yay for built-in spice racks!



Our Weekend...

....looked like this:



Fun with hammers

Making me nervous



What a difference!



Ok, to be fair - this isn't actually what MY weekend looked like. It's what Husband's weekend looked like. Our amazing dads were both in town to help knock out the porch (the previous owners had walled it in to make a sunroom, and we wanted to return it to its original state). I stayed at the condo with my mom, who helped me pack while we drank wine and watched Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family (packing is way less awful more fun with wine and Harry).

We are thrilled with how the porch looks so far. It was really important to us that, while renovating and updating, we kept the original structure and character of the house in tact. So we decided not to do anything crazy on the inside (like knocking out walls or building new ones), but we definitely wanted to showcase this great space. We are looking forward to many dinners out here! When it cools down, of course.

New view of the front

In other news, our granite is being installed in the kitchen tomorrow (insert happy dance here!!). I have been looking forward to this for months...ever since I exhausted the poor folks at ASA Granite in Trussville when I went to pick out my slab and made them rearrange my template a million times until I was happy with the exact layout of parts to be cut.

Yes, I am crazy. It's ok. I embrace it.

Meanwhile, here is the faucet we picked!

From Home Depot. I know, right?

It's exactly what I was looking for...I love the vintage look of the bridge style. Plus, it was WAY less expensive than similar styles from other places. And it got great reviews on Home Depot's website. So, I feel pretty good about it.

Can't wait to see how it all looks. I'll post pics soon!

Kitchen Update: The Sink

One of the first (and ultimately, easiest) decisions that we made regarding the kitchen was the sink. Early on in the "daydreaming and designing" process, I fell in love with farmhouse/apron-front sinks. The style seemed like the pefect fit for the overall look we wanted to achieve in the kitchen- classic and traditional, with modern convenience.

My inspiration:

*photo from www.bhg.com

*photo from www.myhomeideas.com

*photo from www.bhg.com

I love both white fireclay and stainless, but stainless ended up being more budget-friendly, so you can guess what we went with.

The only other detail to decide on was a single-bowl vs. a double-bowl. Most of the farmhouse sinks I had seen were single-bowl, but I was torn. I've never used our current double-sink as it is intended to be (wash in one side, dry in the other), so I was pretty sure I wouldn't mind the single (more room to pile dishes!). But what about a future buyer - would they prefer a double-bowl? Would that affect our re-sell? Why am I fretting so much over a SINK?

Finally, my mother-in-law gave me some great advice - "get a sink big enough to wash a dog and a baby in".

Mission accomplished. I was out of town when the sink arrived, so I texted Husband to see how it looked. His response: "HUGE".

Forget the dog or baby, I could take a bath in it.

Sink Stats:

• Vigo Stainless 33" Single-bowl (http://www.overstock.com/)
• Undermount
• 16-gauge

We have yet to order a faucet, but I'm going with a brushed nickel, bridge style facuet - similar to this:

*photo from www.housebeautiful.com

I'll let you know when I find one!

Sneak Peek - The Butler's Pantry

I couldn't resist posting a little sneak peek of our butler's pantry, which my wonderful father-in-law finished painting over the weekend. I was absolutely THRILLED when I first saw it during our initial walk-through of the house...just one of the many great features of an older home. I also have what some might call an "unhealthy obsession" with china and wine glasses, so I've got plenty of things to fill it with. :)

Since the pantry is original to the house and in good shape, we didn't want to mess with it too much...just give it a little face-lift to help brighten the space. The inside of the cabinets were black, and even though most of my dishes are white/ivory, I was afraid the glassware would just get lost. So we painted the inside the same color as the wall...

Glidden Wood Smoke, half formula
also used in living/dining rooms and upstairs

...and painted the outside a glossy white to match the trim. New hardware on the drawers was the finishing touch. Now I just have to figure out how to arrange everything (post-move, of course!).

The Kitchen

Yesterday was spent scraping paint off of windows with a razor blade. It's exactly as much fun as it sounds.

Let's talk about something more exciting, yes? Like the kitchen!

Oh, the kitchen....what started out as the room I was MOST excited to re-do (also requiring the most work, planning, and therefore, $$$), has turned into the most stressful. Renovating a kitchen is a lot like planning a wedding...there are SO MANY OPTIONS. It can be quite overwhelming. Not to mention, our layout is a little tricky. Let me back up a bit...

When Husband first described the space to me, he said something about a shelf above the sink with a plate rack, no upper cabinets (translation: no storage) and a wall with a "serving window" to the breakfast nook. I was thoroughly confused. When I finally saw it in person, here is what I noticed...

There are definitely some pros - the hardwood floors, the large windows (tons of natural light!), and...yup, that just about covers it. The cons? Well, they are a little more numerous.

While the windows are great, they are oddly placed. We have two on either side of the sink (I don't know why it bugs me that the sink is in front of a wall and not a window, but it totally does)...

...and the third window is off-center on the adjacent wall, leaving little room (and an awkward layout) for upper cabinets (that part makes sense now!).

The dishwasher door can't be fully opened without running into the oven. The cabinets and counter are crooked (because the floor is crooked), and we are pretty sure the fridge has to go in the pantry (more on that later).

After a lot of discussion (and indecisiveness), we decided to gut the kitchen and start from scratch. It's not that the kitchen was in terrible shape - we had a lot of great stuff to work with; it just wasn't set up to be functional. And I want my kitchen to be both beautiful AND functional. Otherwise, what's the point? 

So far, we've painted, installed a new sink and cabinets, chosen the granite slab and ordered appliances. I'll cover those details in a separate post.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of my very favorite kitchens (and a major source of inspiration!)...



Yup, I could live with this! ;)
*photo from www.traditionalhome.com