Patti's Italian Cooking for Dummies

Happy Saturday Sunday readers! J here with an update on our Saturday activities in the kitchen...

G and I met a couple of years ago when we both did a summer internship in the same office. It was, surprisingly,  not love at first sight (though I loved her shoes, and she loved my skirt). But that is another story for another post.

Patti, our friend from that office, took an amazing life adventure this past May to Italy. The majority of her trip was spent at a cooking school! How cool is that!?!?! Both G and I love food (duh!), so we made her promise to come back and teach us everything she learned.  So readers, I present to you:

 Patti's Italian Cooking for Dummies*

*G and I are no dummies in real life, but I am not particularly skilled in the kitchen department (though I do love me some bright colorful kitchen gadgets and accessories). G is definitely several steps ahead of me (her dad is a culinary instructor, after all...), but we still needed Patti to take things real slow.

Saturday's Menu:
Crostini con Salsa Verde
Orange and Fennel Salad
Pasta Fresca
Sugo con gli Asparagi
Sugo Finto
Sformati
Budino Cremoso

You guys, we made pasta from scratch! And I have the photographic evidence to prove it!

 *
 

*Sorry about that angry face, I was putting all my frustration into kneading the pasta dough...

And look at how pretty our Budino Cremoso turned out. It tasted soooooooooooooooooo good!

Overall, yesterday's 5 hour cooking bonanza was a great success (with the exception of our souffle, which we will never mention again... ). I learned tons, ate tons, and then slept tons. Food coma, and all.

Thanks Patti!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

Justyn and I were shopping at Anthropologie a few weeks ago and I found a lovely necklace (not available online any longer).  It was a cream color with several strands of various plastic beads.  I loved it and could see a lot of potential outfits including this basic but whimsical necklace and Justyn also had it and loved it as well.  It was my luck, it was on sale and the only one left.  I walked up to the register because it did not have a price tag.  After about 15 minutes the employee found it to be on sale for $30 or $40, I can’t remember exactly, but I had previously said that I wouldn’t be willing to pay more than $20 for this necklace, it was just plastic after all!!  So, alas, I left the store without my beloved necklace.  However, the story doesn’t stop there.  About two days later Justyn was at the Rack and found the necklace, not something that looked like it, but the exact necklace!!  And, even better than finding the necklace, it was only $10!!!  She snatched it up for me aånd for her sister as well and now we’re both wearing the $40 Anthro necklace for a cool $10 price tag, and it was a gift to me so actually it was FREE!!! (Thanks Justyn!!) Meant to be, I say!  Justyn also told me today that she gave her sister a birthday outfit which included this necklace so hopefully we'll have a blog about that in the near future.  Anyway, here is a photo of me wearing the necklace on Friday; it is just lovely if I do say so myself, and it is even more fantastic considering the amazing deal!

**this photo also features the most amazing ring ever...it is vintage and 

my friend Steph found it for me while she was in an antique store one day!

In other news, I’ve been having a lot of culinary adventures lately, homemade butternut squash soup with roasted red peppers and shallots inspired by Stacey on our trip to the fair below, cilantro pesto (extremely simple, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper in food processor) and today I am endeavoring to make chocolate chip zucchini bread with organic zucchinis that I picked up at the farmer’s market this morning.  I say endeavoring because I am not exactly good at baking and each and every experience ends with me having some sort of burn…so wish me luck and I’ll let you know how it turns out....photos of multiple burns to follow...hehe. 

Sushi, Shopping, Fried Goodies, Farm Animals....oh my!!!

We have had a busy past few days!  We're going to attempt to do a blog entry together this time so I'm up first with our Thursday evening and J will finish it out with our lovely Saturday activities. On Thursday J and I and our friend Patti met at our collective favorite sushi place here in seattle, Umi.

Here is a picture of us at Umi, after we had stuffed our faces full. Note the happy "Umi  Glow." Sorry for the grainy picture, my little iPhone does not have a flash.

Umi is in Belltown and they have a fantastic happy hour with $3 beer and $5 sushi, sashimi, and other small plates.  We had the fantastic Seattle Crunch Roll which is basically a Seattle Roll (which is basically a California Roll with salmon instead of tuna) deep fried (because Americans love to take a somewhat healthy food and make it completely bad for you), and it never disappoints (Vegetarians don't despair! A veggie version of this roll is available for those who ask).  We also had a Green Decadence Roll which is pretty much the best vegetarian roll known to man, thank you J for turning me on to it.  Sushi is one situation where vegetarians are usually left out, for obvious reasons, and I typically get something uncreative yet still delicious like an avocado and cucumber roll but not this time.  The Green Decadence Roll had tempura asparagus in it as well as some other delicious veggies and it is topped with a wonderful sauce and cherry tomatoes. There were also the ***crunchy shrimp*** which are always present at any table at Umi that I have sat at so they must be fantastic.

So we totally meant to take a picture of the sushi before we devoured it (J even had her phone out and ready) BUT the pure deliciousness overwhelmed all reason and by the time we remembered to snap a photo, this was all that was left.

After dinner we took a ride in Patti's new Camry hybrid which has all the bells and whistles, I couldn't be more jealous.  J and I then popped into one of my favorite boutiques which is located just across the street north of Umi called Endless Knot.  It is a little bit hit and miss in terms of what they have in the store as in some of the stuff is to die for and others are...not.  They have great jewelry and usually a large selection of special occasion dresses, I've purchased probably two dresses that I wore to weddings there and my younger sister got her prom dress there as well...kids are so much more stylish these days! Anyhow, it was a delightful evening!


***J here! So this whole doing a post duet did not work out so well on account of my sheer lameness and excessive work load this week. So I went through the Umi Post above and added the photos and a couple sentences. We will follow up with a post featuring the Puyallup Fair (which will include a pronunciation lesson!)... so stay tuned!

A Magical Belt?

Meet the Three Beacons Belt...

I picked up one of these for a friend as a birthday present and I could not resit grabbing one for myself. (Does that somehow make the gift less thoughtful? Nah, I don't think so...)

Anyways...

Let me tell you, this belt is perfect! It can do no wrong. And it will instantly take an outfit from just random items thrown together to a full out pulled together look. Swoon!

Exhibit A: The Mossy Atoms Skirt (Small, $80)

I purposefully ignored this skirt pre-sale ($148 dollars is way more than I am willing to pay for an elastic wasted skirt). I pounced once it hit sale.

Out of the box, I was disappointed. The wrinkles! A good steam fixed that. But there were fit issues.  I chalked it up to the elastic waste band.

This skirt was marked for return. On a whim I grabbed it to trywith my new belt. IMO, the belt fixed the fit issues, and reminded me just how lovely the skirt is. The belt has temporarily saved this skirt. I will reconsider after 3 weeks.

 

Exhibit B: The Mona Skirt (Small, $98)

Oh Mona Skirt, you are so pretty. I first met a large version of you in my local Anthro. To my dismay, you were the only one of your kind in my store. I did not hesitate to order you online while Anthro still generously offered free shipping.

This lovely belt only enhance your beauty, and made me love you even more.

Even if I decide to trade you for a medium, I will always remember our time together fondly.

Exhibit C: See previous post here.

I rest my case.

A Little Gift From a Far Away Friend

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago, and while she was here a family friend from California also stopped by for a couple of days.

While this friend was here we ate amazing food (salty king crab on 1/2 of a fresh peach!), shopped till we dropped (including Anthro, of course), and even went on a day trip to Mount Rainer.

Yesterday I received a little package from this friend. Inside I found:

A lovely thank you card

A package of yummy smelling soap

Homemade strawberry jam (to die for!)

Domenico's Lemon Honey Mustard (those who know me, know how big of a deal this is!)

Thanks, Bonnie! I had so much fun while you were here. Stop by and visit anytime.

My OOTD for a Nice Crisp "Fall" Day

I don't care what all those naysayers out there say (*cough* G*cough*) but I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of the year. And not just because fall clothing options are by far my favorite (boots and sweaters and tights, oh my!), but I love the changing leaves, the shortening of days, and the crispness in the air. Ah Fall, I love you so! (Winter, you are another story...)

I took advantage of the cooling weather and pulled out my most absolute favorite pair of boots. I bought these Banana Republic boots when I was a senior in college. The color is perfection. And after 5 years they are still going strong. I have had to repair the sole a couple times, and will continue to do so. These babies will be with me forever.

Blouse: Banana Republic, Petite Small (?, old, old old)

Skirt: Anthropologie Sidestep Skirt, Size 4 ($40, 2008/2009)

Tights: Anthropologie Confetti Tights, Small ($9.99, 2008)

Boots: Banana Republic Tall Brown Boots, Size 6 ($198, 2005/2006)

Belt: Anthropologie Three Beacons Belt (Brown), Small  ($32, purchase here)

Not So Sunny in Seattle

It seems as if fall is finally here in Seattle.  I had high hopes that summer would return but given the 7 day forecast of rain, rain, and more rain, it seems like it's finally over.  However, I am looking forward to the leaves changing, being cozy, wearing sweaters and boots....wait...are those all the good things that come with fall?? In that case, I would rather have summer!!

Yesterday was decently nice outside and in an effort to have a little change of scenery a friend and I went to sit outside and have a beer at this new bar called Auto Battery which is on roughly 11th and Madison next to a hot dog "restaurant" called Po Dog.  They had a pretty good scene going on, granted I was there from 1pm-5pm using my computer and looking like a general Seattle square.  It was an old garage converted to a bar and they maintained some of the original garage "charm." They have pool tables, shuffle board, and air hockey and the whole place comes complete with tire marks on the floor.  I think given the general hipster vibe of capitol hill it is a welcomed addition and, as an added bonus, you can get hot dogs from next door.  I didn't try a dog (or veggie dog in my case) but the menu is very creative and they looked delicious from what I could tell by craning my neck to see the tables around me (something I can usually be found doing quite frequently).

That's all I have for today.  I tried so hard to put together a cute outfit but I had one of those days where I tried on a million things and ended up with jeans and flats so it's definitely not photo worthy.  However, tomorrow J and I are meeting up with another friend for sushi at one of our favorite places and there will definitely be photos of us, photos of sushi, and a good review of Umi!

Happy Fall! G