What a Week!

I can't believe it's already Wednesday and that I haven't posted on here since our date night a week ago!  Time flew by this weekend which is evident by the number of things we did and people we saw over the weekend.  Here's a little breakdown of how I've spent the last week and what I've been doing since I obviously wasn't blogging!

Wednesday night
Dinner at Brasserie was amazing!  It definitely had an upscale French bistro vibe and lots of personal touches that had me drooling.  Everything from the little containers of loose salt and pepper on the tables to the typography on the menu was perfect.  I wish I could have taken photos of the decor and the meal to share with you but I was a little weary of whipping out my camera in front of all the fine patrons there.

I tried some French beer (tasted very similar to a Belgian Whit to me) and J had a German beer I had never heard of before.  We munched on some olives that had been cooked with hot oil, lemon peel and fennel seed while we waited for our main dishes to come.  I had never had hot olives before and the combination of flavors was amazing!  For the main course, J ordered the beef bourguignon which was melt in your mouth delicious.  It was served with silky smooth mashed potatoes.  In keeping with the French theme, I ordered the bouillabaisse which was incredible.  Full of shrimp (head on), pollack, clams, mussels and potatoes and a tangy-sweet broth, I ate all of it and even drank the broth, it was that good.

After that we headed to the park for some jazz and cheese and chocolate danishes.  The night started out pretty warm but we found a shady spot under a tree and our chilled white wine quickly cooled us down.  The weather cooled even more while we were there which made the evening even more enjoyable.  I definitely want to go back before we leave (weather and time permitting)!

Thursday
We left for Omaha after work and due to flooding in northwestern Missouri (Rockport) and southeastern Iowa (Hamburg) a trip that normally takes us 7 to 7 1/2 hours took us 8 1/2 due to a detour.  This time we planned ahead and I packed plenty of snacks (and dinner) for us to limit our number of stops and we even picked up a few audiobooks to listen to along the way.  The drive flew by, faster than any other visit thus far.  I wish I would have discovered the greatness that is audiobooks sooner!

Friday
J studied for the bar exam Friday morning while I finished reading Middlesex (review forthcoming) before we met some friends for lunch.  After lunch, I had several appointments to gather information about graduate school that took up most of the afternoon.  We then met up with Ashlee and JY before heading to my godparents' house for the Fourth of July concert and fireworks in Memorial Park that evening.  It was a hot night weather wise but we had a great time catching up with friends and family!

Saturday
My mother-in-law and I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning while J studied.  I was really impressed with the selection there and was happy to know we'd be able to get lots of farm-fresh produce in Omaha when we move back!  After a late brunch, we went to the driving range for a few hours before coming home and making mojitos with mint we had purchased at the Farmer's Market that morning.  Since it was such nice weather, we played ladder ball (or lawn golf depending on who you ask) for a few hours before we met up with JDP and a professor of ours from college for dinner.

Sunday
Sunday morning we watched the Men's Final at Wimbledon and parts of the Casey Anthony closing arguments before I met a friend from college for coffee.  The weather that day started out dark and rainy but had cleared up enough by the afternoon for us to drive out to the lake for some drinks and a swim.  We then headed to a friend's house who lives on a golf course (so cool!) for a cook out and fireworks.  The golf course puts on a show every year which was really great and from their deck we could see lots of fireworks going off all over Omaha.  Because of that, it was a fireworks show that lasted for over an hour!

Source: asimpleldswedding.com via Kt on Pinterest

Monday
We packed up the car and headed to St. Joseph, MO for our second cookout of the trip with J's dad, step mom and her family.  We visited with them for a few hours and even went for a dip in the pool before we headed to our next stop in Kansas City to visit with J's grandpa and his mom's family.  We played croquet and met some of their neighbors for a block party cook-out.   There was so much food, including award-winning pulled pork and barbequed chicken, that J and I left there very full and happy.  We didn't stay for fireworks since we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us but we saw plenty along our drive home.  We arrived in St. Louis at 11:30 pm tired and full but happy!

Tuesday it was back to work for me and back to studying for J and back to packing for the both of us.  I can't believe we are moving in less than a month!

Do you listen to audiobooks?  If so, do you have any recommendations for me?! How was your Fourth of July?  Did you see any fireworks or attend any cookouts? 

P.S. I'd like to wish a very happy anniversary to my grandparents who today are celebrating fifty-four years of marriage!  Grandma and Papa, thank you for your love and example all these years.  I can only hope that J and I will have the sort of marriage and be the sort of partners, parents, friends and grandparents that you have been to all of us over the years.  I love you!

My grandparents and J and and me at our wedding last year

Family Treasures

Back in this post I promised I would share some pictures of the vintage salt and pepper shakers I received from grandma a little awhile ago.  Well, I'm finally getting around to showing you all of them.  They all date from the 1930s and 1940s and were part of a collection my Grandma (Dad's mom) started when she was a little girl.  The collection was recently split between two of my cousins, my aunt and myself and I am so excited to have some of these pieces in our home!  Here's an overview of them all. 

 As you can see we have most of the major seasons and holidays represented.  I can't wait to use them throughout the year!

We will definitely use these to salt and pepper our corn (and other foods) this summer!

When the leaves start changing colors, so will our salt and pepper shakers.  As you can see, these were my grandma's souvenirs from a trip to Georgia.

Turkey Day will be extra special this year--the platter is pepper and the turkey is salt!

Our Christmas table will feature Mr. and Mrs. Claus, naturally.

Spring time will mean letting these little duckies out to play!

These little squirrels might stay out year round as part of a vignette somewhere in our house--aren't they so cute?!

While I was taking these photos, I realized I have never shared photos of the tea set my other grandma gave me (my mom's mom) when J and I got engaged either.  The set was given to my grandma on the occasion of her engagement to my grandpa by my grandpa's mother who the family called Nana.  I rarely use the service mostly because it is so precious but I look at it often since it has a place of prominence in our dining room hutch. 

What is pictured here is just part of the set.  I also have a tea pot, creamer, sugar bowl and tea sandwich platter that match.

I love that both sides of my family are now represented with meaningful keepsake items.  These are definitely treasures that will stay in the family for generations to come!

Do you have any family heirlooms at home?  What is your most prized possession?  After my engagement and wedding rings, these items would rank pretty high up there! 

Croque Monsiuer Mac and Cheese

Last night J and I made our first recipe out of our new cookbook, Food Network Magazine's Great Easy Meals, using some of the hot ham left over from our Easter dinner.

Hot ham is our signature dish come Easter time.  The recipe has been in my maternal grandfather's family for over one hundred years and dates back to the days they lived in Kentucky in the mid to late 1800s.  Basically, you create slits in the top of a fully baked, bone in ham (spiral cut would not work) which you then stuff with dried red chili peppers (also called chili de arbol--hence the "hot" in hot ham), fresh spinach and the white tips of green onions.  After you stuff the ham, you wrap it in cheese cloth to keep the stuffing inside and boil it for a few hours to cook the spinach and green onion.  Right before serving you bake it for about an hour to reheat the ham and crisp the skin.  When it comes time to serve, people can opt for some of the stuffing if they like things spicy or leave it off to enjoy a flavorful ham with just a little kick.

I apologize for the quality of this photo--J took it from his phone because I left my camera at home!

The hot ham is perfect for this recipe although any type of ham would suffice.  We also used smoked Gruyere cheese to bring out the smokiness of the entire dish. 

Croque Monsiuer Mac and Cheese, modified from Food Network Magazine's Great Easy Meals cookbook

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ziti--we used elbow macaroni because that's what we had on hand
2 cups fat free milk
2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere cheese (about 6 ounces)--because we were using smoked Gruyere, we used one cup of Gruyere and one cup of plain Swiss cheese.  This is also a cheaper option since Swiss is such an inexpensive cheese
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
2 large eggs
3 slices white sandwich bread, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cooked ham
3 cups fresh spinach--we added this to the recipe for a little green and to use up what we had on hand before it went bad!


Kitchen Supplies:
Large stockpot for pasta
Cutting board
Box or hand grater for cheese
Small saucepan
Whisk
Measuring cups
One large bowl
One medium bowl
2 quart glass baking dish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt and pasta cooking until al dente (six minutes for ziti, eleven minutes for elbow macaroni).  Drain and transfer back to stockpot, tossing with 1/4 cup of milk to keep it from gumming up.

Meanwhile combine cheeses in a bowl.   Beat 1/4 cup of milk and 2 eggs in another bowl; fold in bread and toss with half of the cheese mixture.

Next, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the saucepan over high heat and saute garlic and onion for two to three minutes until they start to brown.  Add flour, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and salt; cook, stirring about 2 minutes.  Slowly add 3/4 cup of water and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk; bring to a boil, stirring until thickened.  Remove from heat and whisk slightly to cool.  Whisk in remaining cheese then add the mixture to the pasta in the stockpot, tossing to combine.

In a buttered glass baking dish, pour half of the pasta mixture followed by half of the ham and all of the spinach.  Top this with the remaining pasta before pouring the bread and cheese mixture on top of it all.  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.  Let rest a few minutes before serving.

 Serves: 4

This was a delicious recipe and I am looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch today!

Also because I haven't shared any Woods' photos in a while, here are a few I snapped yesterday.  The first is a picture of his new "bed" next to ours.  I like to think of it as a trundle bed of sorts, one that allows J, Woods and I to sleep better because Woods is no longer hogging half of our full size bed.  We will see how long this phase lasts!

The next is of Woods while we were making dinner.  He is not allowed on our table and he knows it, hence the guilty look on his face when I caught him in the act!

Let's talk holiday food!  What type of protein do you usually have for holiday meals?  Ham? Turkey? Roast beef? 

St. Patrick's Day Table Setting

With March now in full swing, I decided to create a St. Patrick's Day table setting to make our home a little more festive for the holiday.  Because my mom's family is mostly Irish in ancestry, growing up we always celebrated St. Patrick's Day with corned beef, cabbage, and green milk (beer for the adults).  J and I will continue the tradition in our home this year and now we will have a festive table setting to go along with it!

Since it's not a major holiday like Christmas or Halloween, I was also determined not to spend a lot of money decorating for something that will only stay up until March 17th.  Enter my good friend, Dollar Tree.  For under twelve bucks, I not only decorated our dining room table, but also was able to decorate our living room as well.  Here's how I did it.

I started with some multicolored green bamboo place mats and green goblets from Anthropologie we received as an engagement gift a few years ago.

I then brought out our white square plates and placed a shamrock on each plate for place cards (each bag came with 20 shamrocks in two colors--kelly green and a sparkly shamrock green)

Himself

Herself

In the center of the table, I pulled out this green tray I bought at Value Village for 60 cents back in October.  (Does it look familiar?  I also used it to create my Christmas table setting seen here.)  I filled it with six strands of green beads (each pack came with two each) and then nestled three green tea lights I had laying around on top.

My camera did weird things with the coloring of this photo--it does not look that shocking in real life!

Next, I hung two more shamrocks from the hutch using some green ribbon I had left over from our wedding this summer to complete the dining room look.

In the living room, I put away the rose petals that had been out since I created this table setting and got to work.  In two of the glass vases, I used green and white scarves (one for each) to create a platform for the pillar candles to rest on.  In the third, I used the kelly green shamrocks to create another base.  I then slipped a bright green shamrock into each one for a little splash of color and interest.

In the library area of our living room, I reused the milk glass vase and candle from Valentine's Day, stuffed it with some green tissue paper (also leftover from our wedding) and placed three shamrocks around the base.

Since this area of our living is more of a library type space that we use to read books and magazines, I also grabbed a green and white journal and a small green and white candle that had previously lived on our bookshelves to stack with the milk glass vase.

So there you have it.  A festive and fun space just in time for St. Patrick's Day all for 11 dollars!

Tell me, do you celebrate St. Patty's Day with gusto or do you just wear a bit of green so as not to get pinched?  Are you planning to decorate for it or do you reserve that for the big holidays? 

Back to Reality

J and I arrived in St. Louis late last night after spending the last week and a half traveling.  During that time we did the following:

• Visited 3 families in 3 states (Nebraska, Missouri and California)
• Received lots of great gifts--details coming so stay tuned!  For part one of this series, visit here
• Spent a day in San Diego walking through Old Town and eating great Mexican food
• Went to the Holiday Bowl (sadly Nebraska lost)
• Spent lots of time in my parents' newly repaired hot tub
• Had an open house with friends at my parents' home
• Went for a long hike with my mom, sister and our dogs
• Read two books: The Red Queen and The New York Regional Singles Halloween Dance--book reviews to follow!
• Made sushi with my parents and siblings--recap and photos to follow!
• Ate a fabulous New Years Eve dinner--menu, recipes and details on how I can cross another 130 Before I'm Thirty goal off my list!
• Went to the Rose Parade and viewed all the beautiful floats
• Spent lots of time laughing and sharing with family and friends
• Made some New Year resolutions--which I will share with you soon!
• Discovered our heat had stopped working sometime while we are gone--hopefully it gets fixed today
• Learned my car has a completely flat tire--looks like we will be buying new tires shortly!

Whew.  That's a lot of activities and that means there will be lot of blog posts on the horizon, so stay tuned! 

How were your holidays, friends?

Guest Post on Clever Betty

Today I'm posting over at Clever Betty as part of her You Had Me At...Holidays series.  So go on over and check it out!

I'd like to extend a warm holiday welcome to all visitors today.  Thanks for stopping by and please take a look around my humble blog!

As always, you can drop me a line at ktrefinishingschool[at]gmail[dot]com.  I'd love to hear from you!

Decorating for the Holidays

After my wish list post last week, I went on a bit of a shopping spree (a cheap one, but a spree no less!) to decorate our dining room for Thanksgiving and later, Christmas.

First, I picked up this solid white runner with white velvet trim at Target for 14.00 bucks.  I chose white over the silver or gold varieties because it is more versatile and is something I could use to dress up our table all year round.

Next, I found some gold and silver metallic votives at Target for 99 cents each.  At that price, I grabbed four of them, two of each color. 

I then went to World Market to see what treasures I could find there.  This is an easy task in my neck of the woods because Target, World Market and Bed, Bath and Beyond all share the same parking lot.  Hurray for visiting multiple stores without having to drive extra miles to get there!

I knew I wanted chargers for the table setting.  My mom always puts out gold chargers for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years every year.  To me, they are an essential part of any holiday decor.

I eyed these at Target, but ultimately decided against them because I really need two of them (our dining room table is small and any more than two would look very crowded) and they only came in packages of four.

I'm glad I waited because I found these square beauties instead.  They are perfect because, as you can see from the photo, we have square plates.  The square chargers came in silver and gold, and after stacking square plates and the two chargers side by side in an aisle of World Market, I decided to go with the silver chargers.  For 2.99 each, I was sold!

While searching the store for treasures, I found a bag of twenty lightly scented tea light candles for 3.99 a bag, which I placed immediately into my basket to go with my votives from Target.

Next, I turned to cloth napkins.  After all, that was over half of my wish list post!  I found several at World Market that I liked, but ultimately settled on these lovelies (the napkins, not the napkin ring that is being sold in the link).  They have a bit of a brownish, gold color to the pattern and were 1.89 a piece after my World Market Explorers discount.  I bought four of them since they are subtle and neutral enough to work for any dinner party, not just the holidays.

Later that night, I stopped by Crate and Barrel with a friend so she could pick up a wine aerator.  While we were there, I spied the perfect napkin rings for my table setting, complete with silver, gold and white accents!  For 4.50 a piece, they are something I will likely use year after year.

When I got home, I could hardly wait to pull it all together.  When I laid down the runner (and folded and tucked part of it because of its length), Woods immediately jumped on the table to "help."  Once he discovered the runner was a soft material, he proceeded to make it his bed.  Woods is not allowed on our table at all, so this was a fun teaching moment with us, complete with squirt bottle (the only thing he responds to...most of the time).

I placed two large candle sticks that we had received as an engagement gift in the center of the table and placed two small pillar candles I had already.  They are a bit used and burned down, and perhaps I will replace them soon with taller, unburned ones.  For now, they will do as they were free.

My table was still missing a little something, preferably something gold to tie in that metallic color a bit more into the setting.  That's when I remembered my little pile of picture frames in my closet from a failed project involving spoon hooks last year.  They would look great on our table!

I grabbed two of them and some scrap paper and got to work.  In a few more minutes, I had two frames to remind us to be grateful this season.  One says Give Thanks and the other is a list with some of the things we are thankful for this year.  There are a lot more, but that is all that would fit on the list :)

Final total: under forty bucks.  Not bad considering I will use many of these items year after year, not just for the holidays, but any time I want to add a little something to our meal!

So there you have it, our Thanksgiving table setting.  I have to admit, sometimes in the mornings I catch myself wandering into our dining room , flicking on the light and staring at the table.  The metallics and whites just make me so happy!

What's your favorite part?  Have you decorated for the holidays yet?  Let's talk...

Psst...I already have an idea for how to transform this setting into a Christmas setting without spending any additional money...stay tuned for details!

Holiday Candle

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am gearing up for the holidays!

One way I've done this is by purchasing a candle whose scent reminds me of the season.  This year, that candle is Home Scents' Fireside by Target.  It smells a little bit like cinnamon and cookies baking, and also a bit smokey, like the wonderful smell of a wood burning fire.

Growing up, we always had a fire in the fireplace on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We often fought over who got to take a post-Thanksgiving nap in front of the fireplace--a better nap has never been had, I swear!  The Christmas fire was great for burning some of the wrapping paper left over from opening presents.  As I got older, I spent many a Christmas Day afternoon in front of the fire dozing and reading one of the books I had gotten that day---this candle is already bringing back memories from holidays gone by!

Since the fireplace in our apartment is non-functioning, it is nice to have the smell of a wood burning fire when we cannot have the real thing!

I stacked a few white bound books on the side table in our living room, exchanging them with the scarier, creepier black books left over from Halloween.  I then topped the crisp pages with the candle.  The white and silver covers echo a table setting I have planned for the dining room, so stay tuned...

I think many winter nights will be spent with a cup of tea, a book, a soft blanket and a warm candle to keep me company!