The Continuing Saga of Our Kitchen Nightmare

Since we have received quite a few new items for our kitchen I thought I would tackle the job of reorganizing everything. Here is what I have to work with so far:

 

Sausage and sun dried tomato rigatoni topped with mozarella

I Love Presents

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday with Jeff's mom and dad and we had a really lovely time. We ate delicious food at Bucca di Beppo (where I ate an entire salmon filet for the first time in my life) and I opened some very lovely presents! I have a new set of Fiesta dinnerware (in Plum!), new silverware, and some new drinking glasses. Our kitchen is more equipped and stylish than anything else we own!

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Pasta For Lunch Again

Butternut squash ravioli topped with a slightly sweet pancetta-marscapone sauce. Mmmm.
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It's the Simple Things

 

A Love For Jewel(Mint)

 I don't recall when I first heard of JewelMint but it has taken me a while to join the subscription box service trend. While I love finding great things to put in my apartment to make it look and feel more beautiful, I also love to do the same for myself on occasion. This is where JewelMint has been stylishly helpful.

My JewelMint collection. Click for bigger image.

My little collection is growing and while it looks like a lot, only two items were purchased at full price. The rest were purchased from private sellers at a discounted rate (and with birthday money, no less). In any event, I am loving each piece. There is something really special about wearing pretty jewelry and feeling pretty, even while doing mundane tasks like grocery shopping. Jeffrey doesn't seem to mind, either. In fact he is helpful and tells me if the Hayden necklace doesn't go with my blouse but the Love Spell does. His involvement makes it so much more worth it!
 As of now I don't have any plans to purchase more. I'm still waiting on the Madame Mystery earrings to arrive in the mail (along with some other birthday purchases).

Hello, 29

It's difficult for me to realize that as of today I am now 29 years old. The number just sounds so much more significant than I feel I am age-wise. Next year there will be a new number before my age and with it a new and different chapter of my life. It is a bit strange because when I was younger I could not see my life past the age of 21. Strangely enough my life improved vastly in my early- to mid-twenties and I began to make plans for everything I wanted to do before I reached 30. Now that I'm exactly one year away from 30 I realize some goals just aren't going to happen. And that's not really a bad thing.

When Jeff and I first became serious I told him the goals I had - things like having my first child or at least being pregnant by the time I'm 30. But at that time I never imagined I would be in graduate school and living almost completely independently with Jeff. I see now that some goals will have to be pushed back because other events that have only just begun have changed my immediate priorities.

The goals that I once had are still my goals, they just aren't as immediate. Right now my focus is on continuing in graduate school and identifying a potential career. In some ways life is slower but more busy and intense. If that makes any sense. The one important thing to keep in mind is that just because you set an ideal goal for yourself that doesn't mean that you can't push it back until later if other, more important things appear in the interim.

I don't know if I will ever feel my age. I was raised around adults and always got along better with people who were much older than me. I was a bit older than the other students in undergrad, especially in the dorms. Right now I feel as though I am in the company of similarly-aged students in my graduate program but I don't really know them all. What I suppose I'm trying to say is that my age has always been different from the age I feel I am. I feel much younger than I perceive 29 to be. I certainly look younger than 29 (when I compare myself to others who are my age). I'm sure in a few years I will be absolutely delighted to look younger than my current age. In the meantime I should just enjoy feeling the way I do and not worry about what a number means.

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Mini Food Post #2

Jeffrey seems to have a flair for plating his culinary creations and this dish he recently made was no exception. The saffron in the tuna turned it a lovely yellow color, but it really popped when he topped it on purple mashed potatoes. And the whole dish popped again when he put it on this marigold plate. It was delicious, too! 

 

And here was our haul from the Farmers Market last weekend. The shallots are new to me but they are working out quite nicely. I made guacamole for the very first time Monday night and I was having a bit of difficulty getting the flavor just right. Turns out all it needed was pancetta (and pancetta fat). So delicious!!

 

 

Mini Food Post

 Some of my recent creations. I have been infusing a lot of Italian flavor into regular meals and the result has been very delicious!

 

Farmers Market

We had another successful morning at the Farmers Market. It even seemed to be a bit busier this morning than it was last week. We went for Hawaiian potatoes and left with those and so much more! I do miss the Farmers Market that had just started up in Vandenberg Village back at home with my parents. There was one vendor who had the most amazing pies and another with great hummus and pita pizzas. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to go back sometime soon.

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Scholastic Adventures

I'm in about the second week of the new school term and so far I've found little time to do anything else except read and write. However, we have been making some really delicious food lately and I've been taking plenty of photos. I can't wait to share those! In the meantime, school owns my soul!!! LOL.

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