music monday: iron & wine

Enjoy my favorite song (and the single) From his brand new album, Kiss Each Other Clean.
album art from google.

adventures in cooking: banana bread

I recently tried my hand at banana bread. It was delicious for about 2 pieces (pretty much just those pictured) until I got to the middle which was uncooked. Oddly enough it was the very top of the bread that remained doughy. My vintage oven tends to be unnaturally warm so I have a tendency to overcook items. Things coming out raw is a new problem for me.

I got the recipe from my go-to cookbook, How to Make Everything. Breads may not be my forte either.

music monday: mumford & sons

I'm lucky that I have a boyfriend that knows my musical tastes better then I know them myself. I owe 90% of my musical library to him and his "have you heard of ___, you'd like them" emails.

He recently turned me onto Mumford & Sons and I've been listening to them pretty incessantly ever since. Their entire album is worth a listen but here is my favorite song.

10 things i'm loving: etsy edition

top to bottom,
1. Recycled Leather and Canvas Carryall, $215  2. Sewn Card, $7.50
3. Black Riding Boots, $39  4. Vintage Rustic Alarm Clock, $32   
5. Vintage World Globe, $75  6. Reclaimed Wood Desk Caddy, $65 
7. Navy Twill Swing Coat, $118  8. Gardening Book, $12 
9. Adventurer's Club print by Matte Stephens, $60  10. Wood Storage Cabinet

vintage rings

If my hands needed another ring, these would be in the running.

From Jean Jean Vintage's etsy shop.

jimmy stewart and grace kelly ride a bike

From this great tumblr.

adventures in cooking: vietnamese rice noodle soup with beef

My first foray into my new cooking experiment was relatively successful. I adore Asian food of other sort, but cannot prepare it to save my life. Why would I start with something so ambitious? I'm asking myself the same question.

My biggest challenge is learning to cook just one or two servings (leftovers = lunch the next day). I have a tendency to overdo it which results in eating the same meal for a week straight.

It is currently impossible to find bean sprouts in Indiana so I substituted in mushrooms just like the author. It was overall pretty delicious but time-consuming. Furthermore, my leftovers didn't hold up very well which I can usually count on with soups. I think I will think twice before I make this one again but I'd be open to other variations.

Original recipe can be found here.

if I lived in san fransisco this hutch would be mine

From Jordan Ferney's Moving to France Sale.

more about ashley meaders

I am very fond of Ashley Meaders. Her success has made me realize the endless opportunities out there for the crafty. She has made a career of being creative. Design*Sponge has an excellent interview with her in their What in Your Toolbox series.

Image from Ashley Meaders.

cozy plant holders

The girls at work and I were just talking about our plants and what we house them in. I like to go with terracotta pots because a) they're cheap and b) they match. But I was starting to fret about getting a little tired of their sameness and this is the absolutely perfect thing to spiff them up.

Found on You are my Fave.

royal tenenbaums + max dalton

The immensely talented Max Dalton created a Royal Tenenbaums series and participated in a Wes Anderson tribute show. Right up my alley!
See more of his work here.

adventures in cooking

I can sum up my cooking skills in five words....I think I can cook.

Don't get me wrong, I like to try. I occasionally luck out and produce something amazing but my go-to is pasta and breakfast. This, however, does not stop me from thinking that I could make homemade soups, fancy and time consuming cookies, or involved multi-ingredient wonders. Furthermore, laziness usually gets the best of me. By the time I get home it's hard to muster the energy to create a culinary masterpiece for a party of one.

I've become pretty obsessed with food blogs. I like the commentary as much as I like the recipes. These expert (or at the least, extremely talented) chefs admit their mistakes and are truthful about how real life effects their cooking and it makes me feel better about my own cooking shortcomings. And now to the point of this post, my new year's resolution is to cook more. I'm not putting any stipulations on the resolution (I'm trying to make it as easy as possible), just that I try to cook something multiple times a week. I'm going to try to document my progress here and I'm sure admit more failures then successes as I experiment.

Some of my favorite recipe sources: Smitten Kitchen, GoodLife {eats}, Serious Eats, and the always reliable AllRecipes, Gourmet, and Food Network.

illustration by Julia Rothman.

2011

My new year is off to a wonderful start. I hope you are also having a great 2011 so far.

photo by Anette Pehrsson, who's photography has captivated me.