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my long weekend
We went and got a dozen oysters and burger meat from McCall’s. They don’t schuck there. So left to our own devices, I shucked my first oysters! It was surprisingly painless and unsurprisingly rewarding. If you live in LA, do yourself a favor and go get everything there. Gonna do a post on making a burger with their meat soon.
We also saw Moonrise Kingdom. It was so so so cute. And planned on going to the Zoo. That was a bust. Overpopulation caused us to go mini golfing in the 90° valley.
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eating this: lime drizzled shrimp
Do you like lime? OK well do you like garlic? OK! Well do you like bread? Perfect. You’ll love this dinner then.
My stepmom gave me this recipe after she took a tapas cooking class (a gift from us!). It’s so easy and so good! You can make it with raw shrimp or partially cooked. Cooking this dinner is much easier with partially cooked so you don’t have to remove the shells.
I think I increase the amount of the ingredients every time. So this is my version, because I love the sauce and prefer way more of it.
Lime Drizzled Shrimp
(serves two)4 limes
1 lb of shrimp
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp vermouth
bread, toasted or grilledGrate the rind of 2 limes and set aside. Squeeze the juice from all of the limes and set aside. Mince the garlic.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the garlic and cook until lightly brownded.
Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes (or until browned, I would say cook longer depending on the shrimp’s starting point, cook it longer! I didn’t cook mine long enough I’ve now decided!)
Mix in lime juice, rind, and vermouth. Stir well. Add parsley.
Top grilled bread with shrimp and that delicious lime juice.
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monotone dining
It seems like I’m always on the quest for chairs. Well, we finally sold our dining chairs on craigslist and now are considering going with black ones. Our table is wood, our floors are wood, and our rug is pretty much the color of the wood. I looked for inspiration of black + white + wood.
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making this: diy painted wooden spoons
One of the easiest, fastest, and cheapest fun DIYS is taking some of those wood spoons everyone owns tons of and making them TOTALLY PRETTY!
You tape a line on each spoon at whatever height you’d want. I wanted mine mostly color but they might look good with more of just an accent.
Paint them with a foam brush. You’re done. Whoa, that was easy. I luckily had this box conveniently sitting next to me as I was painting and realized I could stick the spoons in to dry. Now I am keeping this box forever. You could also clip them onto something?
A couple hours later, take that tape off and display them somewhere visible. (And hand wash them. Duh.)
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we had a picnic
After buying this picnic basket, I decided we must immediately go have a picnic now. We went to Griffith Park, had complete privacy, ate a ton and read a little.
The menu was pasta salad, caprese sandwiches, grapes, and arnold palmers.
The sandwiches were cooked, so they took a little longer but were so worth it.
Oh, did I mention we brought the tripod?
Click more for the recipes…Read More
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wishlist
huffy cruiser / wood salt and pepper shakers / mozza cookbook (don’t know why I don’t own this yet) / j.crew swimsuit (looks like it would be flattering on all shapes) / forever 21 earrings (super art deco) / fringed umbrella (as seen in lonny – in love with this) / diptyque scented oval
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eating this: birthday cake
I volunteered to make my brother’s girlfriends birthday cake this week. In my family, we have and always will eat white on white cakes for every occasion. But she likes yellow cake. With chocolate frosting. And so that’s what I did.
The batter came out super super thick. And then the cake rose pretty high. I was worried. But everything was ok.
With a bread knife, I carefully went for it and really carved off the top of the bottom cake layer. After a frosting disaster from my moms birthday cake, I set up parchment strips under the cake for the frosting process. It only worked ok.
I made the frosting in a food processor and couldn’t believe how easy it was. You throw the ingredients in and press the button and you have frosting. UM WHAT.
Probably my best frosting job ever. This was after removing the parchment and then cleaning up heavily with paper towels. How come everyone else makes it look so easy?
Yellow Layer Cake (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Yield: Two 9-inch round, 2-inch tall cake layers
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shakenPreheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (drop it a few times from two inches up. it’s really loud.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.
Instant Fudge Frosting (adapted from where else, Smitten Kitchen)
Makes about 5 cups
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (no need to sift)
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extractPlace all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate, then process until the frosting is smooth.
YES that’s it! Then do whatever you can to make the cake look nice and presentable. This part is what takes me the longest.
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watching our tree grow
We have this huge fig tree in our front yard that totally died in January. So we took a photo every day since then to see it grow back. AND IT DID! And my boyfriend made a song for it too.
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cozy cozy bedrooms
In honor of our new bedspread which I am obsessed with being underneath at all times, I gathered some bedrooms I’d also like to never leave. That is, if all of these rooms have hbo go and netflix instant.
ab chao’s bedroom
left / right
top / bottom
jenna lyons bedroom -
making this: diy ombre vases (from coffee cans)
For our mother’s day brunch, I thought I’d make some small flower vases to incorporate the theme colors and not overwhelm the rest of the table. From the coffee canisters I keep in hoarding bulk, I took three out which I had already spray painted. I’d suggest spray painting prior to painting these because it helps with the texture and it’s ability to have the paint stick.
I chose a peach color. So you need two colors that can work together as light and dark versions. Plus white. Also, I’m lucky enough to have an artist boyfriend with blending brushes, but any thicker clean brush would work as a blender.
I mixed three tones but once the paint was on the can, I decided to darken the darker tones to make more of an impact. Mix three or four colors with different brushes. Then paint one color at a time on each can.
Once I attained the colors I liked, I took my clean brush and started blending, light to dark.
It took a bit of blending to really get it BLENDED, and the darkest color pretty much faded away, which I am fine with. Now fill with water and flowers and admire.
