monthly macaroni 7

this month i chose to make the pan-roasted scallops with white cheddar mac and cheese, grilled asparagus and lemon gremolata. i obviously altered it by not using any pan-roasted scallops, but im sure they would taste great to those who actually eat them. it tasted pretty good, but needed many alterations. this could possibly be due to omitting the scallops, but i am not quite sure.

i was a bit nervous about the white cheddar because it is always a hit or miss whether i will like it or not. sometimes i absolutely hate the taste of white cheddar, like when it is involved in cheez-its, but sometimes i love it, like when it is involved in pasta roni. because of this i purchased the plain white cheddar over the sharp white cheddar. looking back, i feel that i should have gone with the sharp white cheddar because the regular white cheddar did not seem to have much flavor or really any flavor at all. it still tasted good, but i needed to add extreme amounts of parmesan in order for it to get to that point.

one thing i really liked about this macaroni was how creamy and thick the sauce was. this may have been due to me adding way more cheese than the recipe called for, but regardless, i enjoyed it. my favorite macaroni that i have made thus far does not have such a thick sauce and seems a bit more oily/greasy, but the flavor makes up for it!

another alteration i would make in the future is to cook an entire pound of asparagus. i did not make the entire bunch this time because i did not want it to be overpowering and i actually made the amount the recipe called for. i would also not cute the asparagus or mix it in with the macaroni. i thought it looked a bit messy and i think things taste better when they look beautiful. instead i would keep them whole and put the asparagus on the plate first and place the macaroni on top of it.

despite the few alterations i would make during the next go around, the plates were still cleaned and stomachs were satisfied! overall, i think i would rate this macaroni recipe 5th out of the 6 i have made thus far. that ranking is a bit unfair and does not give this recipe much credit because i rate the macaroni recipes on an awesomeness scale. this macaroni was still good, just not awesome.

happy cooking!

love.

autumn joys

i love this time of year pretty much more than anything. pumpkins. candy. hay in different forms. the crisp smell of the air. i could go on further, but that is not the point. the point is that a few weekends ago was filled with all of these things that i love! we headed east of edmond and made our way to quite possibly the cutest pumpkin patch/farm ever. we looked at cows, llamas and goats, road a hayride that was filled with plastic ghosts hanging from the trees, played on a tractor, laid in hammocks, watched little kids swing all over the place on a tire swing, and picked out some perfect pumpkins that we will be carving next week! it was lovely and relaxing. i cant wait to carve my pumpkin!

more about my pumpkin to come!

love.

ouch

i have become extraordinarily awesome at injuring myself lately. i'm not talking the usual bump or bruise, but drawing blood from objects you usually avoid. some of these objects have recently consisted of cheese graters and steel cans. however, today was probably the worst. today i got a needle stick. dont worry though, it was a clean needle! i gave flu vaccines all afternoon and one particular needle cap was giving me an extremely difficult time. it was a difficultly that i have never encountered before. anyway, i pulled the cap so hard that once i got the cap off i ended up stabbing myself straight into the side/palm area of my hand! i didnt think i stabbed myself too badly until i was disposing of the needle (before using it on the patient of course) and noticed blood gushing out of the bottom of my glove! thankfully my patient was a doctor and therefore didnt pass out due to the blood. would you trust someone to give you a shot if they cant even get the cap of the needle without dangerously stabbing themself? i wouldnt. i just wish there was a way to redeem myself. better luck on thursday!

and since i do not have any photos of needles or syringes, here is a super cool chandelier  that can be found inside a delicious gellato place in fort worth.

the hanging parts are sample spoons! i thought it was super clever.

love.

a few weddings

this past summer two of my lovely friends got married and now seems like a great time to share some pictures! (most of which are taken from facebook. i have yet to become a photographer of people)

allie and tabers wedding was the fastest wedding planning ever! but it was absolutely beautiful and perfect for them. they had it in eureka springs which means road trip!!! a group of us from school headed there together and had a great time. once checking into the hotel, we immediately headed into town where we found the pied pipers pub. it was a great little place and we listened to the great musicians below for an hour or so until the pub closed for the night. they were awesome! we then headed to the tiki torch for some awesome dancing. so sweaty but so fun!

the wedding was at 8 am because it was the only available time. we did a great job making it on time and looking like we were well rested instead of how we actually felt. 

i stole this one from allie, but i wanted a picture with her and taber in it. and it's beautiful with the trees!

leon got married a few weekends later. after the ceremony and reception, they had an after reception reception at nonnas. delicous drinks and half off appetizers! 

notice the awkward straws. i dont understand why they dont choose to only stock straws uniform in length and not awkward. i had to keep my drink in my lap the whole time!

cristina and i with the lovely leon!

the lovely jessica and brian also had there super cute wedding reception at the norman train station! it was super cute with little touches of flowers that jessica got at the farmers market earlier that morning.

i loved how they had a screen showing all of their wedding pictures from when they eloped to central park back in may. it allowed all of the guests to have a glimpse into their beautiful wedding day. i was also really excited that jessica wore her wedding dress. it was beautiful!

fun times with lovely friends!

love.

*sigh*

i have been loving a lot of things lately. mainly everything. except post call. 530am is too early to be anywhere while needing to be completely functional. here is my beautiful willow picnic tree. its amazing. and beautiful. i love it!

love.

a strange first

i made my first ever chicken dish! thats right, i have never made a chicken dish. i have made chicken enchiladas before, but for some reason i do not think that counts. this was the first actual legit chicken dish and it was amazing! it involved many ingredeints that do not usually let me down, broccoli, heavy cream, tomatoes, parmesan and herbs. i am really excited to make it again.

it was herb-rubbed grilled chicken with creamy orzo and i found it on annie's eats. the flavors were absolutely perfect! i actually did not even measure out the majority of the ingredients. my one recommendation is to be very careful when opening the orzo package, at least if it is the archer farms brand. you should probably just use scissors. i unfortunately found this out the hard way because i was too lazy to walk two yards and get scissors. i tried to open the package with my hands and the orzo flew everywhere!!! it also did not help that i for some reason do not own a broom. this means that i had to pick up each individual orzo pasta by hand! it was essentially like throwing rice all over the floor. i will be using scissors next time and so should you.

one thing i loved about this dish was that it also tasted really good as leftovers. i did not even get tired of eating it!

love.

the air is crisp again!

i have been welcoming my favorite season and month of the year by sprucing up my place with lovely autumn details. i love them all so very much and i love coming home in the evening and seeing them. it's absolutely perfect!

beautiful flowers and pumpkins!

an amazingly scented candle! (autumn festival by yankee candle) i seriously love autumn scents more than anything. i probably should have bought multiple.

 pretty table decorations! and candy of course. why would anyone not have candy?!?!

my amazing spider candelabra!

and now for a few lovely things from the past few weeks.

after nearly killing my basil plant due to lack of light it has come back flourishing and i have been able to pluck off leaves multiple times to make dishes a bit more delicious!

i would love to have a pale pink vespa. and it looks beautiful in front of those worn down garage doors.

i finally actually ate at cool greens! for some reason i didnt get the hummus pizza i had been dying for for the past month or so, but this wrap was delicious and a very good decision.

nothing is better than having a beautiful plant to admire while putting a presentation together.

brad and i ventured to indulge in one of my favorite foods that i had been neglecting for far too long, pho! pho ga to be exact.

 a great weekend away in dallas for ou/tx (boomer sooner!). i feel like i really needed it. and it was lovely!

i know this picture is weird, but it brings back hilarious images to my mind of dancing and other adventures. mainly hearing people scream "oh no! its the weirdo!" at the sight of brad haha!

 love.