Summertime Adventures

So, it's been a while since my last post. Potential excuses are numerous, but I'll just suffice to say that I haven't made writing a priority. I've spent many of my weekends over the past few months traveling - to D.C. (several trips), Carolina Beach, Arkansas, Jacksonville, and in a couple weeks - San Francisco. I love being in a new places and getting out of the routine, but it has left little time for catching up on things at home.

We spent Memorial Day weekend at Carolina Beach in another great VRBO find - a 4th floor one bedroom condo just one row back from the beach, with dual balconies looking out on the town lake and ocean (read my review here).

View looking west: Carolina Beach Lake

Our beach-themed condo

View looking east: The Ocean! 

The summer solstice weekend was spent visiting my hometown in Arkansas, where we toured some of the local attractions such as the Wal-Mart Visitors Center and fabulous Crystal Bridges Art Museum, spent an evening shooting off fireworks on my parent's farmland, took a road trip to the Victorian era Ozark mountain resort town of Eureka Springs, went for a swim at Hogscald on Beaver Lake, enjoyed a fun-filled night on Dickson Street catching up with old friends, and even got in an engagement shoot with a very talented local photographer, Novo Studios. Really a quintessential Arkansas summer weekend.

Wal-Mart Visitors Center - Bentoville, Arkansas

Farmland near Winslow, Arkansas

One of our engagement photos! (photo credit: Philip Thomas of Novo Studios) 

On my weekend trips to D.C., we always make a point to try a new restaurant and explore a bit of the city on foot; definitely one of my favorite things to do in any city. July 4th was an extra fun weekend to be in Our Nation's Capital, with special (free) events going on all over the city, including a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence - quite good, and not as cheesy as I thought it would be!

Amazing Savory Waffles from Locolat Cafe in Adams Morgan

Fresh seafood & crabs at The Wharf @ Southeast Waterfront (en route to Nationals Game)

Two weeks ago, I made the trip down I-95 to Jacksonville to visit one of my dearest friends who recently gave birth to her first child  - an adorable baby girl. She is the first of my close friends to have a baby, and it was such a special experience to spend the entire the weekend getting to know the newest member of their family. 

Next up - a long weekend in San Francisco to visit another one of my dear friends! Looking forward to sampling the amazing food, drink, and scenery in and around the Bay Area. Not so much looking forward to my flight that departs at 5:50 A.M. But hey, on the bright side, I'll be arriving at SFO before 10:00 A.M. :).

House Warming Party, Tapas Style

With  Operation Decorate complete and the condo looking presentable, I was happy to be able to spend most of the last month showing it off to both local and out-of-town guest.

I had been waiting to host a party for while (even at my old place, I had contemplated throwing a Halloween or Christmas party), but other events always seemed to get in the way and I would ultimately end up chickening out for one reason or another. Throwing a party is a lot of work! But that is true with most things worth doing and parties can also be a lot of fun. And really, what else is going on the last weekend of February?  All the more reason the throw a party.

The end result was an intimate gathering of ten-or-so friends on a chilly Saturday evening enjoying tapas, wine, beer, and Latin pop music (what can I say, one of the perks of throwing a party is controlling the play list :). And while a number of folks ended up not being able to make it, it was great opportunity to visit with old friends and meet a few new ones, which is really my favorite things about parties. 

Throwing a party was also a great excuse to try out new recipes with exotic ingredients that aren't typically on my weekly shopping list. According to Pinterest, all great parties these days have a theme, so I felt a certain amount of obligation to conform. This also proved quite useful in providing some direction to party-planning since there are so many options to choose from on the outset. I settled on Spanish tapas, or more specifically, pintxos (some times called "pinchos"), which are the types of tapas served in the bars of San Sebastian in the Basque region of Northern Spain (see corresponding Pinterest board here: Pinchos Party).

I could really go on and on about all the amazing pintxos I tried during my visit to San Sebastian. It is a unique type of eating that combines the casual setting of standing up at a bar, with a heightened attention to detail and complexity of taste. It has been exciting to see all the new tapas bars popping up in the U.S., but I have yet to see the pintxos concept duplicated. With that spirit in mind, I attempted to duplicate the "specialness" of the pintxos bars in San Sebastian, with a variety of tapas, each offering a different taste combination. 

Olives Marinated in Orange & Thyme Infused Olive Oil 

From one of my favorite cookbooks, Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America by Jose Andres, which I displayed in a fancy OLIVE DISH (they make those?) that I snagged for a song a TJ Max the week before. Pictures found here:  http://trissalicious.com/2011/01/10/olives-marinated-in-orange-and-thyme-infused-olive-oil/

Pintxo de Chorizo y Manchengo

From a great story on NPR's "The Kitchen Window" - Pintxos: The Flavors Of Spain, On A Toothpick (with recipes included!). These were really a great hit, and so simple to make! 

Datiles Con Beicon (Dates With Bacon)

Also from Pintxos: The Flavors Of Spain, On A Toothpick. 

Ok, I admit it. I love dates, and I love bacon, so there was really no way that I was not going to love this. And from my perspective, it was my pièce de résistance, if based on nothing other than the fact that it took me a solid two hours (on a dreary rainy Saturday when I literally had nothing better to do) to pack the little dates with blue cheese & an almond and then laboriously wrap each little sucker in a slippery piece of bacon.  Anyways, I thought they were pretty good, but I may have been the main one eating them :). 

White Tuna in Piquillo Pepper

From tapasbonitas.com, I simplified it a bit by just placing a piece of piquillo pepper on top of the tuna instead of attempting to stuff (most of the peppers from the jar weren't as nicely shaped as they appear to have come when tapasbonitas attempted it). 

Tichi's Gazpacho

Also from Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America by Jose Andres

Recipe is here, although admittedly my gazpacho doesn't look the same as it does on that website; mainly because I skip the garnish and just go with the blended mix of fresh tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, vinegar, olive oil (lots of it), and salt. The appearance is somewhat creamy and many people who taste it guess that the recipes includes onions (it doesn't). The zip comes from the garlic & vinegar, and the creaminess comes from the olive oil. This didn't actually fit into my pintxos theme, but this is one of my favorite recipes from Jose Andres and I wanted to share it. Since we weren't sitting down to any type of formal dinner, I served the soup in little plastic cups; several people thought they were shots. Nope! 

Tortilla de Patatas

...not the "tortilla" you're used to! This is Spain's version of the tortilla, which has very little in common with the Mexican tortilla. As the name suggests, it is made of Patatas (Potatoes), along with egg, onions and a touch of salt; all cooked in a generous amount of olive oil. This is another dish that often fools people into thinking there is an extra ingredient - cheese. But alas, no; it is a simpler dish than it first appears. The trick is in the preparation. The recipe I used (from Jose Andres' Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America), called for the dish to be cooked in a frying pan and FLIPPED, which is quite difficult to do (I've done it a few times, with varying results). This time, I decided to simplify things a bit by BAKING it in the oven. The alternative method worked out quite well. I couldn't taste much of a difference and it was much less stressful (and fool-proof) than the flipping method. Recipe can be found here.

The Spread!

Operation Decorate

I've been a busy bee this past month decorating my new condo. In many respects, it has felt like my very own version of The High Low Project on HGTV. The premise is simple: get that "designer look" without breaking the bank. But with a full time job, it is much more time-consuming than it looks! I have literally spent nearly every free moment during the past month working on some task related to decorating: searching the internet for design ideas, visiting various retail establishments, or hanging/putting together/painting/organizing the various objects I already had in my possession.

Exhausting, but also lots of fun! Even though I told myself I wasn't going to set aside any budget for decorating, I ended up spending about $1000 to make the place feel like home (because really, what good is owning your own place if it doesn't feel like home?). About $500 of that was spent during multiple trips to Target buying things like drawer organizers  recycling containers, and various other things I didn't know I needed until I absolutely couldn't do without them (evil  Target). The other $500 was spent on *real* furniture that I can now sit around and adore on a daily basis. I'm definitely not "done" yet (probably won't ever be), but I feel like I've gotten to a place where it feels like home and I can tackle future projects as time and money allow.

So, without further ado... THE NEW PLACE:

Living Room. /// Accent wall was already painted when I moved in. Loving the punch of color, high ceilings, big windows & crown molding. Most of this furniture I already had, but in case you are curious, here are the DETAILS: Lamps: Marshalls (my favorite store for lamps); Couch & Ottoman: Roomstore (my first *real* pieces of furniture purchase for my old apt.); POÄNG Chair: IKEA (it's a classic, right?); blue side table: thrift store find (for $15 - total score!); butterscotch Mimic cube: Crate & Barrel (found this when the Crate & Barrel store at my local mall was closing and everything was 1/2 off. The style is no longer available, but the Ditto cube is similar); 

Dining Room // Accent wall was already painted when I moved in; all lighting came with the condo. DETAILS:  BJURSTA dining room table: IKEA (an *extendable* table in birch veneer - makes up in versatility what it lacks in style; it works for now); VILMAR dining room chairs: IKEA (...or a similar style they used to make - in birch veneer. Really serendipitous Craiglist find a couple summers ago whereby I scored all 4 chairs for $40, just as I had almost  convinced myself to spring for these very similar  (but twice as expensive) chairs from Crate & Barrel: Felix Walnut Side Chair; Twist Swivel Bar Stools: World Market (quite possibly my favorite new apartment purchase to date); Peacock Quincy Chair: World Market (totally in love, especially after I spotted this almost-identical-chair (Modesto Chair from Arhaus) while browsing at a super fancy furniture store in the mall for - get this - $1200...seriously? I WIN). 

Kitchen // All major elements came with the condo. Love the hardwoods & stainless steel fridge. Would love granite counter tops eventually, but that won't be in the cards anytime soon. I do love my magnetic spice jars on the fridge (really great way to organize your spices to make them visible and accessible at the same time = just $2.99/each at Bed, Bath & Beyond) 

Master Bedroom // Some of you may recognize this bedroom setup from a previous post. New this year are the side tables (thrift store find w/ paint & updated hardware), along with the Adair Sconces from Pottery Barn (with nickle finish  which were my splurge item for this project. I  scoured the internet for a "knock-off" version, but couldn't find anything I liked nearly as much. Also, these were on sale and pretty much the cheapest sconces that PB sells, so I will suffice to say it was a justified purchase.  This is is the first time in my life I have had matching bed side lamps; really makes me feel like an adult! 

Thrift Store Dresser // Thrift store find + updated hardware from Amazon (definitely the best place to buy drawer pulls if you have a certain style in mind. I got these for a fraction of a cost of what they were going for a Lowes/Home Depot)

Office/Guest Bedroom // Crate & Barrel Knock-off desk from Amazon + thrift store chair + antique lamp from my parents house (one of the few items that made the trip across country with me when I moved out here in 2006) + bike that I need to ride more especially now that I live so close to the Greenway.

Office/Guest Bedroom /// OK, bare with me people. I debated whether to post this pick, because I'm not particularly proud of  how this portion of the room is styled, but maybe y'all can give me some tips :). For now, I'm just happy it's organized and I haven't spent any money on this room yet. This is basically just all my furniture that was leftover after I decorated the other rooms (my B-team items, if you will). The couch/love seat is actually a fold-out HAGALUND  bed from IKEA (in Idemo Beige; doesn't exactly pop off the gray walls...), along with some orange Crate & Barrel pillows (if you're going to buy anything from C&B, I suggest the pillows...the fabric/texture/design is simply unrivaled in my opinion, and its a relatively cheap way to upgrade any room). OH and don't you love the Schnauzer pillow? That was a Christmas gift this year; even though its kinda cheesy, it just makes happy. The chair to the left is a thrift store find, the white bedside table is one of the other remaining elements brought out to NC from my childhood (along with the desk lamp). The foot stool (which looks kinda awkward here, and everywhere, actually) is the matching foot stool for your classic Papasan chair sold at World Market (and no, I never owned the actual chair; this just happened to be the only ottoman that I could transport back to my apartment (by foot) while I was living in Chicago without a car. And that rug....that rug is an original purchase from my "moving the dorms" pre-college shopping trip to BB&B with my Mom over a decade ago. Don't you love how every piece of furniture has a story?  

New Year's Eve, Mexican Style

Happy New Year! I kicked off 2013 in the Riviera Maya, where the Mexicans seriously know how to do New Year's right. I wimped out at went to bed at 11:00 pm, but my parents (yes, PARENTS stayed up later than me...sometimes I feel like that one Toyota Venza commercial), reported that it was quite the party; complete with conga line and a bag of 12 grapes passed out to each party-goer at midnight! Here are a few pics from the "New Year's Gala", which we all agreed felt more like someone's wedding that we were crashing, but was actually part of our all-inclusive hotel package at Grand Coco Bay resort in Playa del Carmen.

 

The Mayan "show" during dinner...complete with frankincense and elaborate feather head dresses 

The band & dance floor shortly after dinner was served (at 9:30pm). Setting the scene for things to get rowdy

Kevin & I shortly after they handed out the party hats and noise makers. We took a picture and declared victory on 2012.