Farmers' Market Goodies

Look at all these goodies we got from the farmers' market today! They are for a dish I'm making tomorrow night for a vegetarian dinner party. More details on that to come...

Trying Again...

Here I am, a year after my last blog post! I'm going to try to fire this thing back up again. I want to keep up with my photography, recipes I like and the occasional craft. Right now I'm in summer school, so it might be sporadic, but I like having a place to put down my thoughts.

My family recently lost another member. (This makes 3 in 6 years.) My cousin Dan was killed in a pretty tragic accident. He was only 32 and had 2 older brothers and many other family members who loved him very much. In the past few days my heart has been hurting. I've been so confused why God would allow this to happen and I've been unable to react in the way I wish I could. It's complicated, but my feelings are all mixed up and messy. Suddenly this morning a felt a great thirst for God's peace. In the midst of my crazy stressful life, I have abandoned the quest I once had to attain God's peace above all else. Since I'm at work and don't have a Bible handy, I took to the internet in search of a word of comfort. The first website I found had a verse of the day that was perfect for me right now:

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30

I think that pretty much says it all.

Posters from the WPA

Library of Congress has a program called American Memory which digitizes many of their objects and makes them available online, similar to what I do at the University of Alabama. Today I found this section of it that consists of posters created during FDR's New Deal. I love the vintage look of these and I would like to try to figure out how to print them out and decorate my apartment with them!

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/highlights.html

Finished with Summer School!!

I have had an incredibly crazy last 6 months! After starting a new job in January, I had began a very busy sememster. I got a break from school for a few weeks in May, and then summer school started, which consisted of 9 hours of class a week and a week's worth of reading every other day, on top of 40 hours of work each week! I finished my final today, though, and have almost a 2 month break from school! Hooray! I hope during this time to get lots of reading and crafting done. I plan to try to update the blog more often with info about what I'm reading, making, cooking, and finding online.

Recipe Project - #1 Prosciutto Roasted Salmon with Autumn Vegetables

Ok, I have a confession. I have about 25 cookbooks. And I hardly ever use them! I love to read cookbooks and make plans to try all these recipes one day, but I never seem to get around to actually try them. So I have decided to start a new project. Each week (or maybe every other week) I will choose a few of my cookbooks, get some random page numbers courtesy of random.org, turn to those pages and cook the recipes. I am allowing myself to pass on recipes I really don't think I will like or if I can't get the ingredients. So, I began my project with a cookbook we got for Christmas, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten.



Andrew and I love to watch Barefoot Contessa on tv, her meals always look so amazing! And complicated. I had never tried to cook one of her recipes before. The recipe that was randomly selected was Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon with Autumn Vegetables. (Actually, it was supposed to be bass, but they didn't have any at the good old Winn-Dixie so I had to substitute salmon.) Also, I know it's not fall so fall veggies aren't in season, but I went for it anyway. The recipe called for butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips (which I had to leave out because they didn't have those at the Winn-Dixie either). The salmon was actually really simple, just seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, wrapped with one slice of proscuitto, and roasted in the oven. While the salmon and veggies were roasting, I made a lemon-rosemary butter which I spooned over the fish when it came out of the oven. It was AMAZING!! Seriously, one of the most delicious things I've ever cooked! Here's some pictures of the finished product, one with the cookbook in the background and one close up. Yum!

I Love These Cookies

You Are a Peanut Butter Kiss Cookie

You are a social, friendly, caring person. You are good at helping people. You have a very giving heart. You are a natural teacher or counselor. You get value from making someone's life better. You are trustworthy, and a natural problem solver.

What Holiday Cookie Are You?

Happy Holidays!

After work today, Andrew and I are headed to Chattanooga for Christmas with my family. And I am off work until January 5! So after we spend a few days with my family, we are heading up to Johnson City and Elizabethton for most of next week to see Andrew's family. I just hope I get a little time to relax and enjoy my time off. But it will be nice to spend some time with our families and see all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents we don't get to see very often. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!