OK, even I am rolling my eyes at the title of this recipe. Quinoa fried rice with tofu – can we get any more hippity dippity healthy food blogger over here?
I’m sorry, but I’m that girl. The one who loves tofu and is using a Peruvian grain/seed to make an Americanized, pan-Asian dish.
Sue me. It’s delicious.
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The final wedding countdown is on! 12 days, you guys. TWELVE DAYS.
Nate and I were in Atlanta this weekend at our friends Sara and Anthony’s wedding. Sara and I got engaged right around the same time, and were checking with each other as we planned our weddings to make sure we picked different dates. So all year, I’ve known that we were flying to Atlanta for their wedding, and then ours would be just around the corner. Being there this weekend made our wedding seem SO REAL!
Not to mention the fact that they had the most beautiful wedding ever. It was at her parents’ house (an old horse farm), very Southern rustic, very DIY. It was absolutely perfect, and I can only hope I’ll look half as overjoyed as I walk down the aisle as my lovely friend did! Except I know I’ll look terrified instead. I remember distinctly from my sister’s wedding the feeling of not being able to control my facial muscles as I walked down the aisle because I was so nervous. The chance of that happening at my own wedding is preeeetty much 100%. I will be clinging to my dad for dear life!
I was crossing my fingers that I’d be going through a quiet spell at work in the weeks leading up to the wedding, to give me a little spare time to take care of last-minute wedding details. Instead, pretty much the opposite is true. Isn’t that always the way things work? Everyone is being super understanding, and I’m trying to stay focused and not take advantage too much. Because of that, easy salads like this are going to be our best friends over the next week or so!
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Summer berry season is ON.
These glorious juicy little berries are the #1 (food-related) reason I look forward to summer. Have I said that before… perhaps about tomatoes? peaches? basil? Blasphemy. Berries are my all-time favorite summer food.
And just because it’s fun, here are my top non-food-related reasons to look forward to summer: Dresses (my credit card bill has been insane lately, and Anthro and Banana are to blame), Martha’s Vineyard (headed there in a month!), and just generally the warm weather. If you ask me, there’s no better feeling than walking out of the house without taking the time to stop and bundle up first. I think those that live in a warm climate year-round take that feeling for granted, but I most certainly do not! Well, not usually. I’ll be complaining about the heat before you know it… so just remind me that I always prefer warmth to cold!
I also love how easily those summer dresses pack into a suitcase. Today I’m headed back to Boston to do girly wedding planning stuff with my mom, and I threw all my clothes for the long weekend into a carry-on with plenty of room to spare. If you know me, you know that is quite the feat! Girlfriend does not pack light. I mean, I haven’t gotten to the toiletries yet – and I’m pretty sure those don’t get skimpier in the summer – but I think I’m going to get by with my smallest carry-on. Summer dresses FTW!
So since I mentioned it, can I just derail this pudding parade to talk about wedding stuff for a second? OK good. Because this weekend we get to do the following: Cake tasting. Florist meeting. Hair and makeup trials. Eeek!! Maybe we’ll even have to test out a few signature cocktail recipes. Life is tough, you guys. I cannot wait!
P.S. Am I really flying across the country just to get my hair done? Shhhh. Let’s get this pudding parade back on track.
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You know you’ve entered yuppie status when you can’t resist the Whole Foods one-day sale on champagne mangoes, and end up coming home with an entire crate.
This happened last Friday, when I ran into Whole Foods for a “few things” (always) on my way home from work, and left with $9 of mangoes. Such a sucker.
But $9 for 14 mangoes! I was both delighted with the deal and in disbelief that I was buying a crate of something just because it was on sale. Also, have I really entered the phase of my life where I stock up on whole crates of expensive produce? I might be, like, 10 years too young for that. So many emotions brought on by these mangoes. Plus, how do you use up 14 mangoes?
Luckily, I found the solution to that last one.
Step 1: make mango sticky rice.
Step 2: devour mango sticky rice.
Step 3: repeat.
I think that should just about cover it.
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Good morning! It’s Monday again, isn’t it?
Well, I take that back. Some of you lucky folks probably have Veteran’s Day off, making this just another day in a niiiice long weekend for you. Well hurumph. The rest of us have to work.
It’s finally hitting me that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Just two and a half weeks! My whole family is coming out to Salt Lake this year (minus one sister and brother-in-law! we will miss you Cait and Ben!), and my grandparents get here in less than two weeks. Cah-razy. I am psyched to have everyone out here. I am also realizing, though, that I’ve been considering Thanksgiving as an informal deadline for having our apartment totally put together… and that has not quite happened yet. Do you think we should finally get a living room rug after 3 months of living here? Let me think about that, better put it off a little longer. Not. Time to get on all of that.
Luckily, even with family visiting, I won’t be doing all of the Thanksgiving cooking. My parents and aunt and uncle are renting a house, where prepping a Thanksgiving meal for 20 will be much more successful than it would be in my minuscule kitchen, which boasts all of 20 square feet of standing room. (Think about that for a second, lucky homeowners and even fellow apartment-dwellers… 4 feet by 5 feet.) Anyway. I get to play sous chef to my mom, which is a relief, as I would definitely be terrified of coordinating a whole Thanksgiving dinner myself. Once my parents get into town, we’ll kick things into high gear with grocery shopping, pie making, and turkey brining. A holiday centered around food is a holiday well-celebrated in my family!
Since I’m starting to get in Thanksgiving mode, I thought I would share one of my favorite holiday side dishes with you all.
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