On Our TV

Over the past two months, Nick and I have watched Numb3rs like it was our job.  We love the show, the "math vision" and the characters.  The majority of the characters are quirky and smart and eccentric, but I think we like the dynamic.  The show focuses on two brothers solving crimes using their own specific skill sets.  One brother is an FBI agent and the other is a mathematician.

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Our problem, however, is that we are done with the show.  We watched them all.  So, last night we started watching Mad Men.  I am not sure how I feel about the show yet.  The views are so old, and by old, I mean offensive to this progressive/slightly feminist woman who would slap a man for the way they behave on this show.  Okay, I know that was intense, but seriously, I cannot decide how I feel about this show.  I am sure it is good, if I could stop my blood from boiling for 5 seconds while watching it.  

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So, what are you watching, or how do you feel about Mad Men? 

Living Room

As of now, the living room is the only room in the house that is filled with slightly unwanted hand-me-down furniture.  Not that I do not love my hand-me-downs, but they don't match our style any longer.  


Even though we aren't currently in the position to redo the living room, I would like to start making some decisions so we can at least head in the right direction.  We took the same approach with our bedroom, and now it is my favorite room in the house (pictures to come, when I have a day to clean it top to bottom first, lol).  


The first step in my "process" is to find lovely pictures of living rooms.  Oh and because I'm not the best blogger in the whole world, I only have a source for about half of these inspiration photos (eek!).

All of the above photos are from the all-inspiring House Beautiful living room slide show!  I find these all to be nice and neutral with pops of color here and there.  I think the very first is my current favorite because of the different textures and colors that blend well.

The above photos are the ones that I had in a file of inspiration, and have no clue of the source.  Of these, I think the last one is my favorite.  It has the same charm that the other favorite has.  I also really like the picture with the couple at their desks in the living room.  Nick and I are constantly sitting in the living room, me on my laptop on the couch and Nick behind me on his computer.  We enjoy being in the same room but doing separate things.  This would be a perfect way for us to be together and chat, but still be able to do different things.


Do you have favorite styles of the moment or a "process" for design?  

Granola

Granola is another great love of mine.  It is great for breakfast, as well as a snack.  We did find some great home-made granola at the local farmer's market, but it wasn't as cost effective as we would have wanted.  That led us to make our own.

We used raw oats, flax meal, grape nuts, honey, vanilla, brown sugar and a little bit of light corn syrup.  Our first batch was overcooked, but the second was great.  We didn't eat it as quickly as we should have, but I plan on making another batch soon.  I also need to work on the proportions of the ingredients and then I will give you a play-by-play of the recipe.

Popsicles

I have never made popsicles before, but this summer I decided to try.  In the June issue of Bon Appetit, they featured several different types of popsicles.  I picked the Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops.  We love peaches in this house.  They are my all time favorite comfort food.  

Here are the end results of the trial run.  They were absolutely AMAZING!  I haven't made any since then, but boy are they on the list of things to repeat.  I got the molds from Target in the clearance section.  They were only 3 bucks apiece.   Here is the recipe:


Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops - Bon Appetit June 2011
makes 8-10


1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
4 cups sliced peeled ripe peaches (about 4 medium), or 16 oz. frozen sliced peaches, thawed
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Greek-style yogurt
2 Tbsp. amaretto (optional)


Place sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan.  Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Transfer syrup to a small bowl; chill.  Discard vanilla bean.


Puree syrup and peaches in a food processor until smooth.  Set in a fine-mesh strainer over a medium pitcher; strain, pressing on solids to extract about 2 1/4 cups puree.  Whisk in remaining ingredients.  Divide among molds.  Cover; insert ice-pop sticks.  Freeze until firm.  Dip bottoms of molds into hot water for 20-30 seconds to loosen pops.  Remove pops from molds and serve.

Our Lives

Nick and I have officially been married a year now.  We absolutely love it!  


Throughout this year, we have cooked, laughed, loved, had disasters, done chores, had fun and cried....but we wouldn't change it for the world.


For our anniversary, we went out to Season's 52, a seasonal restaurant that focuses on healthy food.  We then planned on going to see Captain America, but missed the showing because my phone died and we had to buy a new one.  Even though our celebration was fill of hiccups, we ended the night in laughter!


We did make it to see Captain America a few days later, and we really liked it.  It is on caliber with the rest of the other super hero movies of the time.

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I promise that I'll be back this week with a great pie and some other lovely treats!

Harry Potter

Even though I haven't mentioned it before now, I love the Harry Potter books.  I have read them all multiple times, except for the seventh book.  I re-read them all with each new book, but since there was no new book, I never got around to reading that one again.  


I hope to re-read it before the movie comes out next week!




TRAILER

California Vacation 4

It is time to get back to vacation pictures!  These are pictures from our second day in San Francisco, but last day of the vacation.  It was a very rainy and cold day....so like anyone else, we spent it on the OPEN top deck of a double decker tour bus seeing the sites.