Oscar Weekend Things

I don’t know that I’ve mentioned it here on the blog but for the past few months, Joey and I have been making some pretty serious plans to do a major renovation on our house.  We’ve invested a lot of time, some money and much of our hearts to this idea so when we met with our builders Friday morning and they presented a budget that was WAY out of our range, we were pretty devastated.  I honestly don’t know where it all lies as of now, but just know we spent the rest of the weekend eating, drinking and money-spending our feelings 😛

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I legitimately emailed Joey the seasonally updated happy hour menu at Root Down with the subject line “This looks like a good place to cry later.”  Despite our disappointment, it was a beautifully spring-like day and there’s nothing more soothing than sitting in the bar with the windows wide open and a drink in your hand.  Also, the parsnip croquettes temporarily made us forget anything bad had happened earlier in the day.  SO DANG GOOD.  Back at home, we watched Icarus (which was up for, and ended up winning, Best Documentary Feature) and I thought the flow of the film was weird but the subject was really interesting.

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Saturday morning, we woke up and had just enough time for pancakes and coffee before I left to get a massage.  My mom gave me a bag of “presents” that included ten onions, ha!  Afterwards, I popped over to my sister’s new apartment, where she treated me to some Lemon-Ginger Brew.  I felt like I hadn’t seen her in so long and it was sincerely the best to soak up some sister time ♥  Back at home, I sat outside to eat lunch and read for a bit, then took myself on a run.  It is god-awful windy today but at least we got perfect weekend weather.

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We went grocery shopping Saturday evening and even though we were kind of making fun of ourselves, there seemed to be a lot of other young people doing the same, so maybe we’re in?  I was thisclose to letting Joey convince me to go out to dinner again but then staying in to cook sounded fun too and we had just bought all those groceries.  Sorry not sorry that I love these broccoli tacos so much!  We also cracked open some beers and watched On Body and Soul, which was up for Best Foreign Language Film.  The description was sort of misleading and it was pretty slow, but I don’t think either of us minded the film overall.

P.S. Made it through all of SNL afterwards and Charles Barkley is far from a polished performer but I still really liked it?

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Started Sunday by walking over to Huckleberry for breakfast and coffee.  Iced coffee, to be exact!  This weekend was apparently all about getting a taste of warm weather things and I was not mad about it.  This toast took what felt like an hour to come out (HOW THOUGH?) but then it tasted really good and the iced coffee was on point so we didn’t really mind.  Mostly, this little breakfast date at our local spot made me so happy.

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The rest of the day involved leaving the back door wide open to let the warmth and sunshine in, food prep, writing a lengthy email to our builders and about 50 episodes of Celebrity Big Brother, during which I was also writing my Oscar post and therefore retained about 5% of what happened on the show.

We sat down to dinner just as the Oscars were starting and I was almost distracted from the show by how good this salmon and these sweet potatoes were.  Almost.  Anyway, I don’t think I need to tell you how excited I was for the Oscars.  I look forward to this day ALL YEAR!  Most of the winners went as predicted, but I thought Jimmy Kimmel was hilarious, — I seriously choked on some water during one of his opening jokes and it took me the rest of the night to fully recover — that bit where they surprised the theater across the street was the best and Frances McDormand was INCREDIBLE.  Also, I did end up making that Buffalo Wing Popcorn and it was truly delicious.  I highly highly recommend you make some.  Now someone tell me how many days until next year’s Oscars 🙂

Make This Now: New Year, New Recipes!

Um why do I feel like it’s been a really long time since I did one of these posts?  I mean it HAS been since October, and we’ve had something like 8 holidays between then and now, so I guess it really has been a while.  I’m not going to lie, I write posts like this and they feel so stupid and unimportant in comparison to things that are happening in the world at large.  In the past couple of months, I’ve bailed on this post more times than I can count.  My heart just isn’t fully in it.  But then I remember mornings where eating this granola made me happy or cooking pasta with Joey made me feel whole or baking hot pink slider buns felt meditative and I can’t discount those feelings or not share them with you.  Soothing by way of food is totally a thing ♥

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Tahini-Cardamom Granola

I recently splurged on a jar of cardamom — spices can be so pricey sometimes! — so I was extra delighted when I came across this granola recipe that made use of my new purchase.  I made a few nut modifications, subbed apple cider for orange juice and had to bake it for an extra 20 minutes (!!) but it turned out SO GOOD.  Perfectly crispy, subtly spicy with a hint of sweetness and delightful over some full fat Greek yogurt.

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Pasta with Mushrooms, Crispy Sage & Garlic Bread Crumbs

I don’t own/cook from cookbooks very often so pardon how often I mention The Savvy Cook but I’m at it again with this insanely delicious and even more insanely easy pasta recipe.  I didn’t think I’d be able to share it with you but then I found it on the internets!  You’re welcome.  The sauce is simple yet so flavorful and my noodle slurping game felt very on point the night we made/ate this.  An instant keeper!

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Chickpea Sliders with Whipped Feta & Cucumber Slaw

Honestly, baking little slider buns has become one of the greatest joys in my life.  And the moment I saw these hot pink brioche buns, I knew I had to have them!  They came out so pretty and more importantly, tasty.  I’ve never whipped feta (and I actually I still haven’t because Joey did that part), but now that I’ve tasted it, I don’t think I can live without it.  I wish I had seasoned the chickpea sliders better but loaded up with feta and slaw (don’t skimp on that stuff, the contrasting crunch really makes a difference!), these were amazing!

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Chicken Chili 

Joey made this for me Monday night, as the snow was coming down hard and I was curled up on the couch watching the Olympics.  Can you even believe how beautifully he garnished it?!  I think it was the homemade taco seasoning, leaving the chicken is bigger chunks and putting Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, green onion and pickled jalapeños on top that really made the dish.  The best food is food that makes you feel loved, ya know?

Tell me the best thing you’ve cooked recently!