About A Shoe

I love jcrew.  Over the years, its style has changed and its prices have gone up, way up.  But the series of shorts on their website serves a sort of an explanation.  You get what you pay for.

I bought these pumps on sale... I should have bought it in every color.

My Favorite Night of the Week

Happy Thursday Night!  I love Thursday nights.  The anticipation of Friday and the weekend fills me with happiness!  By Thursday night, I am no longer drowning in the chaos of the week and I feel like I finally have things under control.  


To celebrate, I made peanut butter pecan biscotti.  The recipe was a cinch and I am definitely a dunker!  

From Joy the Baker (http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/)


4 T Butter
1/3 C Natural Peanut Butter - I used Trader Joes Creamy 
1 C Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
2 C Flour
1 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt
1/2 C Pecans


Preheat oven to 325.  Line one baking sheet with parchment paper.


1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2.  In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until fluffy.
3.  Add egg and egg yolk until well blended.
4.  Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
5.  Add pecans.
6.  Divide batter into two batches and shape into loaves.  
7.  Brush the loaves with heavy cream (my friend told me to use the egg white for breakfast - it's a better use of a good egg white).
8.  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  


Put into oven for 35 minutes or so (the loaves should be golden brown).  Take out, cool and slice loaves into biscotti pieces, about one inch thick.  Place the pieces back on the baking pan and bake for another 15 minutes.  


Start your dunking!

A Good Old Fashioned Duet

I could listen to her voice forever...

Keep it Simple!

There are so many cooking blogs out there, so many recipes, so many ideas.  In the end, my favorite cook and recipe author remains... Ina Garten.  She keeps everything simple and delicious.  I am thinking about cooking my way through her recipes for the month of March.  I will have to think through this challenge.


In the meanwhile, I want to keep things simple and delicious this week.  Some ideas...


What to do with a lone zucchini.  Slice them up.  Lay them flat and salt them.  Dredge them in flour and dip them in an egg wash.

And tada...

I also made some salmon.  Get a container and line with sliced up onions.  Pour marinade:
5 T Soy
4 T Brown Sugar
a good amount of minced garlic
2 T Sesame Oil
a shake of sesame seeds

Put your salmon right in there, skin side up and let it hang out.

I cooked these filets in oven at 375 and promptly enjoyed them without taking a picture.  


Here's to a week of simplicity and deliciousness!  

Happy Love Day!

We made these lovely crayon hearts to celebrate Valentine's Day.  We are now off to a Valentine's Day dinner at my sisters.  Yay!

More of Korea

During our very short trip to Korea, my parents arranged for a quick trip to the seaside (I like saying that).  My mom was born on the seaside.  She was definitely in her element.  I think she enjoyed the trip the mostest.   


The resort was sooo nice!

Totally in her element!

It was really cool to see the sunrise.  

Doesn't this look like an album sleeve picture?

My eemo took us out to lunch.  

Korean food almost always leaves a hankering for coffee.  

Slow Start

As someone recently put it, "Life is hard."  It really is.  Sure, there is a sweetness to life but you have to work at it.


Four days into the week and I feel like I can do something other than get up, make lunches, go to work, work, come home, make dinner, clean, spend time with the family, get the kids to bed, get myself to bed, sleep.  So here I am, writing.  There is soup on the stove for tomorrow and something baking in the oven!  I am actually going to stay up after 9:00 p.m. tonight!


I love lemon frosting and shortbread so this recipe for glazed lemon shortbread bars was a must try.

The crust was sandy.  I used my hands to press the sandish dough into the pan.  

Yum!

I am now patiently awaiting for the icing to cool.  By the looks of the sad pictures, I think I need another camera.

P.S.  Oh my!  This is good!  A keeper!  Thanks Week of Menus!