bat cake!

Tags

bat cake, halloween

I know Halloween is almost over, but I couldn’t resist sharing this bat cake with you.

 

tea for two.

Tags

modern tea pot, modern teapot, sorapot, tea pot, teapot

Possess a penchant for teapots.

Already own five.

Perhaps adding the ever-so-zen Sorapot by Joey Roth to the list eventually.

So much love for the product shot they took with flower tea.

Anyone in?

{via the Kitchn}

at season’s peak.

Tags

at season's peak, publix, southeastern groceries, southeastern produce, strawberries

Dear Publix:

I may be even more obsessed with your overall brand now than ever.

Yes, I do stop in the store just to check out your latest developments in your packaging for Publix brand items.

But this. This is too much.

An “At Season’s Peak” microsite dedicated to what’s in season in the SouthEastern US area? And so cute to beat?

Thank you, Publix. Thank you.

xoxo

Nadia

choco-deliciousness.

Tags

chocolate bars, chocolate editions, chocolate strawberry bar, tangerine chocolate bar

I have a serious sweet tooth. It’s a fact of life.

The milk to white, strawberry stripes and tangerine stripes bars by Chocolate Editions have peaked my tastebud curiosity. Are they good? They certainly are pretty.

rainbows.

Tags

eating rainbows, rainbow food, rainbow pancakes

This one’s for blogger/crafter/creative friend Jiorji who made a rasta cake also eats rainbows.

Isn’t eating rainbows magical?

{via}

tea time.

Tags

tea, tea sub, tea submarine

Tea for two? by Ototo.

{via}

live and let diet.

Tags

alton brown, alton brown good eats, alton brown live and let diet, alton brown weight loss, good eats, live and let diet

An interesting episode of Good Eats by Alton Brown came up on my blogs. He talks about how he lost 50 pounds without dieting – what he actually seemed to do was figure out how to eat properly.

Here’s the episode (a la Youtube), and below I’ve written out his guidelines he had for himself while he aimed to lose weight. Some of these are easier to follow than others.

According to Alton Brown, you should eat these daily:

• fruits
• whole grains
• leafy greens
• nuts
• carrots
• green tea

…you should have these 3 times a week:

• oily fish
• yogurt
• broccoli
• sweet potato
• avocado

…and have these only once a week:

• red meat
• pasta
• dessert
• alcohol

…oh, and eat breakfast every day (I don’t know how people don’t do this – I love breakfast).

Personally, these are flexible. If you don’t like avocado, then I’m sure there’s something out there that could take its place nutritionally that you’d enjoy more (just sayin). It’s all about the research.

food words.

Tags

julia child, michael pollan, michael pollan new york times, michael pollan new york times article, pollan nyt

I kept asking him what his research had to say about the prevalence of the activity I referred to as “real scratch cooking,” but he wouldn’t touch the term. Why? Apparently the activity has become so rarefied as to elude his tools of measurement.

“Here’s an analogy,” Balzer said. “A hundred years ago, chicken for dinner meant going out and catching, killing, plucking and gutting a chicken. Do you know anybody who still does that? It would be considered crazy! Well, that’s exactly how cooking will seem to your grandchildren: something people used to do when they had no other choice. Get over it.”

Michael Pollan, Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, New York Times, July 29, 2009

photo via Shani’s Stuff

murray’s beer & cheese.

Tags

beer and cheese nyc, beer and cheese tasting, goose island beer, greg hall, murray's cheese, taylor cocalis

A few days ago Gaius took me out to a Murray’s Cheese Shop Windy City Brews & American Cheese class for my birthday. We experienced seven awesome pairings of Goose Island beer with cheeses and chocolate.

Our instructors were Greg Hall and Taylor Cocalis. Greg is a brewmaster and son of the President of Goose Island Brewery in Chicago. He told great stories about how his different beers have come to be. My favorite was the story of Pere Jacques, who inspired the GI beer appropriately named… Pere Jacques. It was one of my favorite beers of the night and the story only made the tasting all the sweeter. Another beer that I now am mildly obsessed with is the GI Bourbon County Stout. This is a beer that I will only be able to sip and enjoy, it’s flavors so complex that I forget it’s “just beer”. Taylor Cocalis is Murray’s marketing/PR/cheese-lover extraordinaire. Not only did she keep up with making cheese stories riveting, but the pairings that she made with Greg were delicious. I hope to one day have a palate as refined as these two! Out of Taylor’s picks, I loved the Sweet Grass Dairy Blue the most.

The cheeses and beers were scrumptious but the entire experience was delectable. After the class was over, we stayed chatting with the gang. We were given a bottle of Sophie (named after Greg’s daughter) signed by Greg himself. When I expressed that this was my birthday present, a sweet Murray’s employee named Mindy added a bottle of the Bourbon County Stout. When in conversation Gaius and I mentioned we were getting married in a few weeks, we also got thrown a bottle of Pere Jacques and a bottle of Harvest Ale. They also threw a bunch of the leftover cheese pieces to not go to waste which ended up being perfect for my birthday finger food potluck party I was having the very next day!

Overall, I had a blast. Am really crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to find something similar in Miami now.

over it.

Tags

weight loss, weight loss frustration, weight loss rant

I just don’t know what to do anymore.

I weighed myself this morning and was back up to 150 lbs. Fluke? Not sure, but regardless it’s legitimately freaked me out. I don’t buy into much of the hype around weddings (after all, mine should be rather laid back in my parent’s backyard), but I do want to be a bride that looks her best. I’ve been working toward a 125lb goal for about two years and still haven’t gotten there. Not even close.

With t-minus 4.5 weeks until wedding day, I’ve all about given up my adjusted goal of weighing 140-135lbs.

I just don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t want to give up sleep or spending precious moments with friends before leaving (besides, my gym closes at 9pm). My hours at work have increased since one of my accounts revved up in September. I’ve been able to fit in 20 minutes of working out every morning using various workout DVDs (right now I’m so into Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred) but it’s not enough.

I wish I could just have someone hand over what I need to eat in order to make the scale move in direction I want it to. I was doing Weight Watchers but stopped because I literally never used it. I’m hoping I can use Nutrition Data‘s free service to make caloric ends meet, but so far I really don’t understand how to use it. A part of me wants to throw my hands up in the air and order Nutrisystem but just knowing what food flavors make it on the menu makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I know it doesn’t take much time, but work and planning for a wedding/move/school has really taken over my life.

So sad and frustrated and depressed about this whole thing.