It's Complicated

It's Complicated was one of those movies I wanted to wait and watch on my couch rather than the theater so I might be a little behind in posting this. The plot was cute but I think what I was really drawn to about the movie was the set and Meryl Streep's character, Jane.

It opened with a gorgeous birds-eye-view of California and the Spanish tile roofs. Jane's house is Spanish style ranch home. A perfect kitchen. For some reason Meryl's character thought it needed remodeling, but I would take it 100% as is. Pot hangers on the wall, open shelving for dishes, window overlooking plentiful herb garden, marble island, viking oven. No, nothing to change.

But I guess if you are a french trained chef you might have higher expectations. This is the bakery she owns. I think here will be something like this in heaven.

Good movie. Great set design.

In Your Dreams

It must be bad when your body knows you need a vacation so badly that night after night it takes you on one in your dreams. Thanks brain. Its been a good year since I left Texas.

Last night I got to go back to what is probably my favorite place on earth. Florence, Italy. I went there 3 summers ago and had the time of my life. My dream was so vivid that I recognized the cobble stone streets and buildings, smelled the cheese and bread, and tasted the gelato. I even took the same short cut that I used to take when I walked to school. It was pretty great

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately... turns out I just need to go back to Italy. Well, I may not be going back tomorrow but until then I will keep dreaming because a wise friend once told me that it is important to dream.

Shameful Guilty Pleasure... Very Wholesome television


May 24... New Season of Bachelorette!
We'll see if this season I can go without reading or hearing all the spoilers

Have my cake and eat it too.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of one of my very favorite seasons. Tomorrow is the first day of wedding season (for me at least). Of all the thousands of things that I love about weddings, I'll never turned down a slice of wedding cake. I love that people are thinking out side of the box these days so you ever know what to expect when you arrive to the reception. I'm kind of a girl who is torn between tradition and contemporary ideas... So I think a beautiful wedding cake along side an assortment of mini desserts is the best of both worlds.

Off to breakfast and then South bound 35 for wedding number 1!

Amy Atlas

Daydreaming

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
love the hammocks. and pocket doors. and the view.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about Monday night dinners with my wonderful friends. Well week before last there was a discussion about my love of cooking but parallel intimidation of it. They decided this week I would be the cook! Here is a little documentation thanks to the photographer of the group Caroline:

Pre-feast prepping


Chicken with prosciutto and spinach


Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing

And don't worry we ate just about all of the dark chocolate mentioned in the previous post.
It was a successful Monday night dinner!

All my life my mom has had some artistic form of escape forget her day or stresses for the time being. I've always wanted to be crafty enough to use painting or jewelry making as my escape, but I think I figure mine out (for this season at least)

Lately Nothing calms me/makes me happier/makes me forget any stress other than cooking or baking.
Lately I have been super pensive about anything and everything. Its been nice to use the kitchen as a safe haven and stress free zone.
Here is a little taste of how blissful this evening was.

Quick and Easy Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bark. Basically nutella deconstructed. I'm going to cheat and use the professional ones because mine don't compare but this is so good and its off a healthy food website so if that's your thing there that too.

Dark chocolate (1lb)
Hazelnuts
Cinnamon (1 tsp)
Vanilla (1 tsp)
(i didn't use the rice cereal but I'm sure thats good too)