One girl's love affair with all things beautiful

Month: January, 2010

It’s not Delivery

It’s homemade!

We love making Pizza’s at home – in fact its one of our favorite night-in with a bottle of wine dinners. When your making Pizza at home, the options & flavors are endless.  We made this savory artichoke & hot Italian sausage number a few nights ago – and it was delicious.

Using an artichoke pesto for the sauce, we layered sauteed slices of hot Italian sausage, slices of heirloom tomato, baby portabella mushrooms,red onion , and shredded mozzarella cheese. A quick dash of garlic powder, dried oregano, and fresh cracked pepper & sea salt topped it off.  The end result was fresh & savory.

Recipe:

3 links hot Italian Sausage – sliced

1/2 cup artichoke pesto

2 cups shredded Mozzerella cheese

1/4 cup sliced red onion

1 package sliced baby portabella mushrooms

1 medium heirloom tomato

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

sprinkle sea salt & fresh ground pepper

pizza dough – either home made or store bought

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Stretch dough out over a pizza tray. Cover dough with the Artichoke sauce, then shredded cheese. Saute sliced hot Italian sausage and mushrooms in olive oil until browned, remove from pan. Place sliced heirloom tomato in to a hot pan until juices have been released. Arrange tomato slices evenly across the pizza. Next scatter the mushrooms and sausage mixture, along with the sliced red onion. Finally, sprinkle the dried herbs and seasonings over the entire pizza. Place in hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and crust is browned.

Enjoy!

Is it Spring Yet?

Cold winds swept New England Last night….all I’m dreaming of is Spring. *sigh* We have at least another 3 months of this frigid weather….how about some beautiful summery flowers to cheer us up?

Try to stay warm this weekend!

Updating the Trim- Part 1

So, the Trim painting project has begun, and let me tell you – its more work then I originally planned for (but isn’t that always the case?).  We decided to start with the door frames in the hallway, since that area will have the most overall impact on the house.  See below for a picture of  our hallway in all of its dark-stained-wood-glory:

See what I meant about that whole cave effect thing? Pretty Scary.

The doors are all a bit dusty since I took these pictures right after I started sanding the one doorway that is out of sight from this angle! (yup you heard me, there is in fact another doorway in that little tiny hallway!)

I kicked off the project by covering the floor with plastic and blocking the entrance to the kitchen with plastic as well in order to keep some of the sanding dust out of the rest of the house.  Luckily we have a palm sander – the black and decker mouse- which really minimizes some of the physical labor of sanding everything down.  I know, I know you’re thinking why on earth are we sanding everything in the age of no sand primer? Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to just rough up the surface, prime and paint, but unfortunately our trim appears to have about 27 layers of stain on it, with many uneven splotches where the older stain had chipped or peeled. I guess that’s what you get with a 100-plus year old house! And anyways we want this paint job to last and be as beautiful as possible.  Sometimes it really feels like with a smaller house, every little job needs to be done 100% and that every detail counts.

Since I was a slacker and only got one doorway sanded- you’ll have to wait till this weekend for the next after picture!

From Trash to Treasure

After we bought our house we were really strapped for cash…we had to figure out how to  furnish our home on a pretty tight budget. Mike and I have been lucky enough to both be blessed with very generous parents (most of our furniture is hand me downs from them!)   My parents graciously gifted us with this beauty of a set…A butcher block table, 4 chairs, a bench, and an old pine hutch:

You might be questioning my sanity right now….fear not – I’m half kidding. Upon a second look – you really can see the beauty. The clean lines of the solid wood chairs – and the rare gem of a pure butcher block table. Instead of investing in pricey new furniture we gave the dated  furniture a quick face lift with some fresh white paint and lively canary yellow chair cushions. We also had the solid butcher block table top cut down about 2 feet to fit our smaller dining room. Ta-Da!

It was easier said than done though, the chairs were so old they were covered with a layer of waxy dirt which meant they needed a serious sanding and priming. But really, talk about a great makeover for next to nothing.  The color is Ralph Lauren Tea Tree – but it was no additional cost to me since we purchased a gallon of the stuff back when we were painting this summer. It’s really funny for me, seeing the furniture I grew up with as a kid now in my very own home as an adult.. my how the tables have turned – hard to believe! It’s even harder to believe its actually the same set!

Higher Education

My good friend Kate (of DomestiKatedLife) and I enrolled in an upholstery class that begins this spring at the Eliot School here in Boston…..Our version of higher education! While I’m an O.K. sewer, I’m a little nervous as to how difficult the course will be. Despite years of Home-Ec my sewing skills are pretty limited to fixing hems and sewing up holes in Mike’s shirts so I’m hopeful the course is beginners-friendly. Regardless I’m really getting excited to start searching the local thrift shops for a piece to refinish. I’m envisioning a charming little  foot stool.

 

 

 

 

Despite my worries – I’m sure the country charm of the Elliot school will be inspiring.  Nestled in the heart of Jamaica Plain the Old School House is simple and inviting.


Bar Buffet Made Easy

We finally set up our bar area in the dining room this weekend. For Christmas I got the wine storage shelving from Pottery Barn that I’d been drooling over for months …..

I love being able to display our stemware – such a simple and classy way to dress up the dining room.

(In case you don’t remember, this is what the area looked like before. )

We use the large cabinet to store extra kitchen linens, and the drawers to store items such as our bottle openers, cocktail napkins, straws, toothpicks and other assorted bar items. I can’t wait to host a dinner party now. I can just see our bar buffet set up with bottles of wine and cocktail fixings with cute little bowls for garnishes & olives!

Sweet as Honey

I watched the Secret Life of Bees a few days ago and it was sweet as honey..a very touching movie.  All the Honey imagery  got me thinking about spicing up my daily mug of tea with some of the bee’s nectar. These options would all be wonderful in my book. Nothing like a hot cup of tea and a sugary drop of honey.

Clover Honey Spoons. Simple & Pretty. Perfect for serving with tea at your dinner party.

Le Grand Miel – Thousand Flower Honey.

How about a honey spoon to get a nice big dollop in your mug, or on a hunk of warm bread?

Pop of Color

This is one of the few times I’ll be displaying flowers in a container that is not a pitcher. That’s because I’m in Love with this “vase”. I’m not quite sure what it’s truly intended for but it was way too cute for me not to purchase…what a great clearance  Anthropologie score! At just ten bucks it was totally worth it, such a perfect combination of a vintage measuring cup and an over sized mason jar. It reminds me of something I might find at a really great flea market. Not to mention these Anemones are stunning – they make me smile, and remind me of Spring.

Sick as a Dog

Me and Bowser are sick today. But at least I don’t have to wear a cone around my neck…

Bon Appetit!

We had a chilly & snowy Monday  in the Boston area (at least it was a holiday) and it inspired me to cook a hearty cold weather meal.  Armed with some good music and a nice glass of wine, I decided to take a stab at Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon. (I finally watched Julie and Julia a few weeks ago and I swear Amy Adams must say Beef  Bourguignon about a jillion times in the span of 2 hours!) Plus Mike’s dad recently bought me Mastering the Art of French Cooking so I was dying to cooking something out of it.

I really love simple French peasant fare. Just a few rich ingredients like stock, red wine, and a little flour & butter create such a nice flavor.  Beef Bourguignon is no exception.  Stewing beef +red wine+beef broth+herbs = heaven!

Even just the ingredients are beautiful. colorful and fragrant.

Bon Appetit!

 

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