Pile of Shingles

The birds are chirping which means spring is really coming... and it's amazing. I am the happiest during months when I can pick up sticks in the yard. No lies there. I did that earlier in the week and it was incredibly satisfying. For some people yard work (or any project list) can be overwhelming. I can get that way too. What helps me is to break it down into categories and priorities. It doesn't always work but it's a great start. For example, I've needed to rake under the trees for a solid 8 months.... maybe more. But I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll actually do it. I have visions of my backyard turning into this courtyard like oasis - but that isn't reflected in this list. This list is about 2019 priorities. Courtyard Oasis is a lifetime project :-)  Most recently, I had an issue with some pests in the yard. Thanks to my security cameras I noticed I had a full on zoo visiting my front yard. There was a skunk, a opossum, and a bunny....

Man it's been a long time since I popped in over here. Since October lots of things have happened in the house since then. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner. I put up a bunch of Christmas trees. I took down a bunch of Christmas trees months after Christmas. I shoveled a bunch of snow. Other things happened of course. But at this point, it has been about 6 months since I rather informally and non-ceremoniously moved into my house project. Since that point, I haven't realllly taken on any new projects. I stopped buying things and searching for the perfect pillows and rugs and bowls and frames. I did spend a whole lot of time looking at faux fiddle leaf figs but I'll save that for another post. I feel incredibly lucky that I have the time to think about decisions and not be rushed into them. So I've been pondering the garage project and what would be best. Ultimately, I've really spent the last couple months moving slowly on things and watching back seasons of Surviv...

I stumbled across this scone recipe when I was doing some St. Patrick's day recipe searching. I was targeting a biscuit to go with our Guinness Stew... and this little gem of a scone popped up. The facts are obvious that I cannot bypass a scone recipe. I just merely needed a reason to make the scones. Earlier this week my brother-in-law helped me with a house project and it felt like an appropriate thank you... along with a bottle of Jameson. I managed to whip out this batch of scones in the time it takes to preheat the oven. The recipe ends up being almost a half batch of what I would normally make but it was a good experiment. Notes: Yield // only 8 smaller sized scones. If you want anymore than that, you should double the batch for sure. Milk // I had leftover buttermilk from my holiday recipes so I obviously used that instead. There is absolutely no downside to using buttermilk in scones... or any heavy, fattier milk really.  Glaze // Since the alcohol does not cook off, the gl...

I thought this cake seemed like a great idea from the name. A Guiness cake? perfect for our family St. Patrick's Day dinner. Plus, I had 5 Guiness in the house and this called for 1 and the stew I made needed 4. I am a big fan of finishing things off. It's why I can't open a box of Goldfish or bag of bbq chips. There is no stopping me once I start. This cake got pretty rave reviews. I did immediately ask everyone if the frosting looked like the top of pint of beer ... like the instructions told me to. I do not believe I was artistically successful, but the cake tasted good. The consistency skews more dense than light, but that goes with the cream cheese frosting nicely. My brother-in-law made an oreo mint pie as well. The actual best combination was his mint with my chocolate. True home run. I would absolutely make this cake again another time. It comes together incredibly easily and quickly. You probably have all the ingredients already except the Guiness... unless you ar...

The name of this recipe might lead you to believe there is Guinness in it. And boy is there ever. Normally when a recipe calls for liquor or beer, it's just a part of the ingredient list. But there is more beer in this stew than there is beef stock! There is a whole lot of chopping in this recipe. I doubled the batch because (1) I love leftover and (2) we were having family over for the big day. That meant I was chopping: 2 lbs beef, 8 carrots, 8 celery, 2 onions, nearly 2 lb mushrooms, and 6 garlic. But it was totally worth it. After a couple hours simmering on the stove, this was a wonderfully tender and flavorful stew. One of the worst parts about coming to my house for dinner is that as soon as you finish eating, I make you critique the meal. It's a real joy. But how am I supposed to improve and make amazing things if I don't know how you feel about the mushrooms? So here was some of the feedback. But since I wouldn't expect anyone else to make a double batch of be...

It's been awhile since I've made a soup. At one point it felt like it was the only thing I whipped up in my kitchen. There are 45 soup recipes on this website but, they started to all feel like the same thing. Chop carrots. Chop onion. Chop celery. It has been enough time that this soup felt like a refreshing change - also it is totally different. This was my first ever chowder. I'm not a big clam chowder fan - but I do love a corn chowder. This soup came together very easily although it was far more chopping than I've done in recent months. The flavors are obvious and by no means bland. I'm a salty person but the cajun inspired flavors here help to reduce my desire to add salt. Feels like a good win for my next blood test. A few notes: Corn // Corn is out of season right now in the Northeast. While the grocery store had corn on the cob, it felt wrong to buy it. I will absolutely make this recipe again when corn is in abundance. There is something very appealing abo...

Ok - this picture doesn't exactly look like a success story. Where are all the blueberries? In the bottom of the loaf. Not the best. But, I'll do better next time. Blueberry distribution aside ... this cake is incredibly delicious. That might have something to do with the amount of sugar and butter or just magic. The original recipe called for a bundt cake but I wanted to stretch my work a little further - so I opted for two loaf pans. Also, the bundt cake was going to take like 90 minutes to cook... and I didn't start this until 9 pm. There really isn't a whole lot to say about this except that it tastes wonderful and you'll enjoy it. I made this along with a batch of pan monkey bread for an event my dad was hosting. Although monkey bread is delicious, this blueberry loaf was dominated within an hour. Although this loaf is great with or without a glaze, I definitely recommend whipping one up. I made mine extra thick with only buttermilk and powdered sugar. The wond...

I believe this dinner falls perfectly into the Sunday Dinner category. I was in the market for a multi-step meal to spend a little extra time on. While this is definitely multi-step it is quite straightforward. The most challenging part was finding semolina flour. I have been consciously trying to eat more vegetables and less red meat in my diet - although this meal does not reflect that. But given that each day I'm shoving two clementines in my face and perhaps some healthy grains, I'm feeling like progress is happening. Although this original recipe calls for hot italian sausage, you could substitute ground turkey but would just really need to compensate with other spices. The meal is really not spicy but just has a great meaty flavor without turning into a chili. It sometimes feels like anything with meat is two steps from being a chili. A few other notes: I'm not sure I agree that the "toppers" should be called gnocchi. Even my mom was like "oh really? I ...