Christmas Lights, for a good cause

I wish I had discovered this earlier, but there's a house in Arlington County (East Falls Church) that puts on a great Christmas 'Dancing' Light show. Plus, its all to benefit The Animal Welfare League of Arlington.

Picture from Arlnow.com 

Chicken Pierre

I found this recipe for Chicken Pierre on allrecipes while looking for a new way to cook chicken breasts. It was a bit of a gamble for my household because we are not big tomato fanatics, but this recipe was sooo good it might just change our minds.

Chicken Pierre

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it looks delicious and a great way to use fall flavors as the season changes. More than that, I actually had a box of Alpine Apple Cider drink mix sitting in my cabinet that needed to be used.

Halloween Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

Garlic Chili Rosemary Chicken

I love cooking chicken thighs, dark meat is so moist that it almost always turns out wonderfully. So I was excited when I found this recipe for Sriracha Rosemary Chicken which combined dark meat, with the flavors which my fiance enjoys, and a yogurt to cool it down a bit.

Mustard Mayhem: Part II

Several weeks ago I posted Mustard Mayhem Part I, featuring Mustard Glazed Salmon and Mustard Maple Chicken recipes. Being someone who can let no leftovers go to waste, I found a new recipe combining my leftover Mustard, Maple Syrup, and Salmon into Smokey Maple-Mustard Salmon. At first I was worried this would be too similar to the mustard glazed salmon, but after a few bites my fiance assured me that both recipes deserved a place in our normal dinner rotation.

Smokey Maple Mustard Salmon

Smokey Maple-Mustard Salmon proved to be less sweet with a bit of heat. While I enjoyed the earthiness and crunch of mustard glazed salmon I have to agree that this is a great alternative when the sweetness is just too much. Plus this was SUPER EASY!

DIY Paper Fan Wheels

Today I made a party decoration I've been eyeing for a while. Paper Rosettes aka Paper Fan Wheels. I think these paper rosettes look incredible and are a cool, unique party decoration. Before I begin you have to know one thing about me, while I LOVE crafting I am definitely a novice crafter. I have no desire to stock a full craft room in my house or spend money on special scissors, cutting tools, glues, etc. For that reason you'll notice I often improvise with what I have around my house; water glasses, twist ties, etc.

My DIY paper rosettes

Here's how I made my paper Rosettes;

Pudding Cookies

I needed a last minute cookie to take to a party. Having made Chocolate Scotcharoos earlier in the week, I was planning to make a second batch with the left over chips. I reconsidered and decided I wanted to go with a more traditional cookie, but had to use what was left in my pantry. Enter Pudding Cookies which I used as 'garbage' cookies. A catch all for all the leftovers in my pantry.

Pudding cookie ingredients, including my pantry 'garage' of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and walnuts.

Swirl Nail Polish

Right now a big Pinterest trend is 'tie dye' or 'marble' nails. I've seen it again and again and it always intrigues me. Who wouldn't want a really awesome looking nail treatment they could do at home? So, are these for real and can a nail painting novice like myself actually recreate these at home?

Swirl Nails, using water dip technique

Swirl Nails, using 'sticker' technique

Searching around on Pinterest I found two main methods of creating swirl painted nails. The first method, which appears to be most common, involves floating polish on a glass of water and dipping your nail into it. The second method had the user create a 'sticker' of nail polish which was then applied to their nails. I decided to put both of these methods to the test, water method on my right hand and sticker method on my left. See the results for yourself.

Banana Nutella Bread

Pinterst Alter! This was posted on pinterest through originally at Emily Carlton and Visions of Sugar Plum. After all, how is anyone supposed to resist a Nutella Recipe?!

BANANA NUTELLA BREAD

Old Rag Mountain Hike

If you live in the great Washington DC area, Charlottesville area, or are an avid hiker on the East Coast, you've probably heard of Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. Hiking the Old Rag Mountain is a right of passage for anyone in DC who considers themselves the outdoors-man and for many University of Virginia students. The Old Rag hike is one that has become an annual tradition for my fiance and myself.

View from an Old Rag 'false summit'

Old Rag is located in the middle of Shenandoah National Park. It is a 9 mile loop with a 2500 ft elevation gain and decent. This hike is not for the timid. What makes this hike great for adventurers like me, is a one mile rock scramble with challenging obstacles. While no special gear is needed, the rock scramble (and general length and elevation gain) can be strenuous and I would not recommend hiking it alone. If you question your hiking ability make sure to do some research and double check that Old Rag is the hike for you. I'd recommend bringing at least 2 liters of water per person and a large picnic lunch to eat at the summit.

Mustard Mayhem

This past week was a busy one for me in the kitchen. (Look for upcoming posts on Scotcharoos, Banana Nutella Bread, and Pudding Cookies.) But my first inspiration for the week was Mustard! My kitchen creations of the week lead to some very satisfying Mustard Glazed Salmon Fillet and some Mustard Maple Chicken. Yep- two recipes in this post, enjoy!

Chicken in a Mustard and Maple Glaze

La Caraquena - Falls Church, VA

Hello,
  As a wanna-be foodie I love trying new restaurants, new cuisines, and watching the food shows on tv. Today's post will bring the three of those together. As my first 'Around DC' post I am going to give you my review of La Caraquena in Falls Church, VA which I first heard of on the Gone Global episode of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.
  We ate at La Caraquena on Friday August 10, 2012 and I wrote my review the following Monday. Enjoy!

Image from http://www.lacaraquena.com/

Crafty Party Stirs

Recently I was asked to help plan a bridal shower. The hostess wanted small hand made touches to make the party special.

For this shower, I found these stirs online and decided to make my own. In looking at the stirs my first thought was 'ribbon' although the tutorial uses the vague term 'craft paper'. Sounds like its time for a trip to the craft store!

Left Finished Stirs.   Right Top: Paper stir.   Right Bottom: Ribbon stirs.

Here's what I did...

Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Quiche

Lately I've been looking for an easy make-ahead breakfast to enjoy at home. I came across this this recipe for Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Crustless Quiche on Pinterest. (Pinned it, Did it!) Since this is not an original recipe of mine, I encourage you to go to the Budget Bytes website for the full instructions.

My overall opinion of this quiche is that it was good, but not as stellar as I'd like. It needed a little kick up. Most of these ingredients I already have on hand. This particular day I had leftover feta, red pepper, and a few shitaki mushrooms. The only items I needed to purchase for the quiche were spinach and a full container of button mushrooms. 

Welcome

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging. Like most bloggers, I'm a jack of all trades looking to share just a little bit of my knowledge in a lot of different subjects. Here are just a few examples of what I hope to write about and hope even more that you find interesting.

Food: I enjoy trying to cook as well as eating out. I am both a wanna-be chef as well as a wanna-be foodie. Thanks to Pinterest I now have an endless supply of recipes test on this blog, as well as being able to share a few of my old standards. I eat out often and am lucky to live in Washington DC where we have many great restaurants. Additionally I'd love to learn a bit about fine wine, good cheese, and other delicacies.

Travel: Travel is my true passion, and I'm lucky enough to have a fiance who feels the same way. Whether its exotic trips to Thailand or a day out in nearby Annapolis we're there. We've had great adventures and discovered amazing hikes, parks, cuisine, and people in all parts of the world and I'd love to share those recommendations with you. Some day we'd love nothing more than to travel, so this blog can become an outlet of not only past travel logs but also trips we are planning.

Crafts: I am a true DIYer. Long before Pinterest I was creating my own wall art and painting anything I could in my apartment. I'm good with my hands and a great visual thinker, so while its not always perfect I ofter improvise with what I already have on hand to finish a project.


I hope you enjoy my blog.