Friday Ramblings

Wow. Can’t believe it has been almost a month since I’ve posted. Things have been crazy with work here for both Alex and I. Which means we are exhausted and have barely seen each other in three weeks. But some fun things have happened as well.

Somehow we found time to spend a lot of money. Our new couch and new chair, which I am officially calling “my throne” have arrived. Best. Purchase. Ever. Thanks Macy’s for good deals and interest free credit cards. The couch is the Matthew and we are loving the color, fabric and of course the fact it is wide enough for the two of us to lay side by side and watch tv. Here is a picture of Alex enjoying the store model. The chair is from my good friend Martha, Stewart that is, and like everything she puts forth in this world is fabulous. I love that the fabrics aren’t super matchy matchy, but have a similar feel.

    

We have also been acquiring some new art. As soon as I found these prints from Mandipity I knew we had to have them. They are so simple and I love that we can show-off where we are from (Virginia for me and Kansas for Alex) as well as where are are loving life now in good ‘ole Oregon. I couldn’t fit the Kansas one into the picture but you can see it here. They are printed on a nice textured paper with a little sheen and give our hallway some personality. We also found this great Mucha print on Overstock.com. We LOVE Mucha and couldn’t say no to this screaming deal. It is keeping this West Elm star-burst mirror company above our TV.

    

I have gone a bit crazy with eggs recently. We have recently become spoiled with backyard eggs. One of Alex’s co-workers gave us a dozen from her chickens and we could not believe the difference in color, texture and flavor. The geek in me then put together and “eggsperiment” (yes, I did just make that joke). I bought the most expensive local, free-range eggs I could find from New Seasons and Trader Joe’s and cracked them into a pan with a regular egg from Safeway. You could tell the difference of the good vs. cheap eggs, but they still didn’t couldn’t touch the backyard ones.

Upper L is New Seasons, Upper R is Trader Joe's, Lower R is cheapo.

Love all the colors. Some are green!!

In other food news, we FINALLY found good Chinese food in Portland (It only took 6 years). This town has amazing, sushi,  and Thai on every corner but somehow lacks in the classic Americanized staple. A patient recommended Powell’s Seafood, which doesn’t sound like Chinese food at all. We did take out, which was the right way to go since the inside was lacking in the atmosphere department. Check out this whole steamed tilapia, Asian greens, seaweed soup and chow mein. I ordered the chow mein by mistake (I always confuse chow mein and chop suey) but it was really tasty. Everything had tons of flavor, was super fresh and not loaded down with grease. Although I can’t vouch for the soup. It was a little too ocean-like for me, but Alex said it was fantastic. Plus this mountain of food was only $45. Not too shabby.

          

Happy Friday everyone! Think of me while I’m cracking backs tomorrow 🙂

Flavors of the Week

I tend to get a bit lazy in the cooking department when Alex is out of town. This usually means buying a bunch of frozen stuff from Trader Joe’s and assembling, usually with the help of the microwave. I have tried to avoid wheat for about 5 years now and have sampled just about every gluten-free pasta under the sun. Most of these taste like a sandy mush shaped like a noodle, so I don’t eat a whole lot of pasta. Well, TJ’s hit it out of the park with their new corn noodles. The look and taste like real noodles!

      

I have also developed a bit of an obsession with coconut milk. In tea, in coffee, in cereal and most importantly in shanks. Thanks to some inspiration from Chocolate Covered Katie I have become hooked on these “sugar” free, cake batter milk shakes. I add some vanilla protein powder to make it more filling.

     

Last, but not least, I cooked with polenta for the first time. It was surprisingly easy and tasty. Feast your eyes on sautéed kale, leeks and artichokes on top of polenta with fried eggs and goat cheese. What’s your favorite meal you made this week?