day 6

i have unintentionally taken multiple photos that make my sister look like a phantom. maybe its a sign....afterall, she was always great at performing phantom of the opera!

love.

day 5

hammocks at the pumpkin patch! regardless of the history i have with hammocks (getting in a fight with one in 5th grade that caused me to sprain my foot so badly that i was on crutches for a semester) i really love hammocks! i have two that i got while in peru. one that i bought from a tribe in pevas that is made out of "jungle fibers" and one that i got at an outdoor market in iquitos while looking at all the herbal medicine (i also spent 30+ hours in it while riding the waves down the amazon river). 

i want nothing more than to hang my hammocks outside and lay in one while swaying in the wind, reading and watching the leaves fall from the trees.

love.

day 4

i am not a big napkin fan. i feel that they take up counter space that could be used for something else and i dont like buying two products when i only need one (paper towels always win out). but if i had a pretty cool napkin holder, i may be a bit more inclined to change my opinion.

love.

day 3

i love flowers. and birdcages.

love.

day 2

i loved this guy that was on a door outside a building a few meters down the street from the amazing grimaldi's pizza in brooklyn, ny. i had not seen such a unique type of graffiti before and i wish it was easier to find more! i thought he added a lot of character to the old door and stared at him for quite a while as my toes nearly froze off. worth it!

love.

november: day 1

let me first start this off by saying happy november! i had an absolutely amazing few days this past weekend thanks to my wonderful friends. i hope everyone had an exciting and magical halloween no matter which day you celebrated! i am a bit sad october has come to an end (since it is my favorite month and all), but i know november will also bring great things! and talking about the beginning of november...

alisha got me excited about november blog posting month and i decided that i wanted to try and participate with her! i decided that my theme is going to be photos. each day i will post a photo that i have taken that i really like and maybe tell a small story about them. it will probably vary from day to day so we will see how it turns out! i am going to try my hardest to make sure that there are not duplicates of ones i have posted before, but i cannot make any promises. i hope you enjoy!

what i love about this photo: the crunchy leaves and the mushrooms. my elementary school would host a silent auction at some point in the year and that is where my mom purchased these mushrooms (i do not remember how old i was, but it was when i was either in elementary or middle school). i have always loved them and my sister an i would stand on them, sit on them, and sometimes dance on them. i feel that they bring a bit of magic to the backyard. 

love.

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.