lately; pictures with captions

poinsettas and rain

massive gorgeous 2 dollar sunflowers from the farmers market

gin and tonics at home

parmesan crisps(giada)

more compound butter made

time at mom's

first attempt at banana bread

red and yellow tomato, corn salsa

and of course our lil family

a red curry, coconut milk, chicken "soup"

for the "soup" i made lastnite... it was my first time. i decided to make something random without any help of a recipe. basically i just brought a can of lite coconut milk to a boil, added organic chicken that i cut up into cubes, let that simmer for a bit and then added probably about 2 tablespoons(i eyeball everything) of red curry powder to it along with some cumin and salt. then i threw in some grated ginger, garlic, bok choy, peppers, and onions. i kept all that going for maybe 10-15 mins and then at the end i added cilantro and juice from half a lemon. i literally had no rice to put this "curry" on top of so i figured we'd eat it like a soup(tom kha gai is my favorite) .... it worked out pretty well. it was spicy from the curry powder. but yknow, if you like thai tom kha gai soup, make that! my brother who is a chef made this not too long ago and it was amazing. there are great recipes all over the internet. 

super. duper. easy. peasy. lemon. squeezy. 

jewelry love

i recently couldn't help myself and bought this beautiful amethyst jewelry from etsy.

i also got a lapis necklace and triple quartz. 

unique & lovely!

prague friends

when we were living in prague, it was so difficult to make close friends, but after a few months, our cult of american english teacher friends led us to paul and emily. we came to find out emily was from orlando and we made sure that we'd visit eachother considering we were all from florida!

first nite dinner(broccoli with brown rice, and sesame tofu)

so just last wednesday, emily took the amtrak down from winter park to delray beach. she stayed with matt and i in our little "guest room/spare room/cat room" and slept on our inherited fouton bed couch next to our christmas tree. tmi? i don't care.

major hangover cure(green tea, japanese udon soup, and tempura)

emily didn't expect much. i didn't know exactly what do with her while she was here, but we managed to have fun, drink like we did in prague, and relax all in only 2 1/2 days. the first nite she was here, drew came over and we made a dinner for her vegan-ism diet. salsa, hummus, white bean dip, tons of raw veggies, blue corn chips, brown rice with brocolli, and sesame tofu. we spent some time outside on our little tiny porch eating and then headed to our neighborhood bar the blue anchor. let's just say the next morning we woke up and didn't feel well. it wasn't so fun. we sat on the couch for a couple of hours trying to feel better and when we finally did, we walked over to lemongrass and ate a big bowl of soup to help the body revive itself. delish. after lunch, we walked up and down atlantic avenue into all the boutiques and then i bought some fudge from kilwin's on a whim. my bad. i guess i was acting as if i was on vacation, too.

my random fudge whim

after walking the ave, we came home and watched ellen and drew came over and we played words with friends aka scrabble. my mom also came over around 8 and we had a nice time with her. matt got off work at 10 and we headed to mellow mushroom for dinner. that nite we passed out kind of early.

major raw veggie weekend for emily's veganism

on friday, we tried out a new restaurant called dig in delray for lunch. after that, we took a drive along a1a up to deerfield and had a pina colada outside along the beach. it was super windy and kind of rainy, but we managed.  then somehow we made the bad decision to go to boomers and go mini golfing with drew. we had fun even though the images of being a child at boomers haunted us. nothing seemed updated or new. it was really weird.

words with friends

after putt putt, we met arianne at baja cafe for some mexican food. later on some friends came over and we played catch phrase....and then the power went out. there were about 9 of us, scrambling around, lighting candles, finding flashlights, and matt wouldn't stop playing catch phrase. it was pretty fun, but it got hot... so we all went outside on the deck and huddled in the breeze.

getting our 'lada on in deerfield

all in all, having emily here was so wonderful. i can't explain the joy i had having a friend we met in prague at our home in florida. such a delight and i can't wait to see her again!

cave putt putt 

emily surprised bought me dippin dots while i was in the bathroom cause i was raving about them

can't see nothing but candles when the power goes out. 

the holidays are what you make of it

this year it's all about the newspaper.

when i was little and my parents were still married, we always had an enormous tree that was placed next to our gorgeous brick fireplace in gulfstream where i grew up. both my parents are jewish by default, but we always managed to celebrate christmas AND hannukuh. i never really learned much about the jewish holidays... but christmas was the typical gift giving time, and hanukkuh happened every so often. my parents divorced when i was 8, and after(from what i can remember) that we had christmas with my dad, and hanukkuh with my mom. i remember one time we went away to colorado for a snowboarding trip with my dad and my mom packed us 8 gifts that we got to open while we were away. who wouldn't like that? there was even a year that i was going with my brother eruch to the kabbalah center with my mom every friday. that didn't last long, but that's fine. my years growing up living at home were full of different traditions, and more non-traditions than ever. i don't think that it was ever so much about religion, just more about family and gift giving.

as soon as we got older, the gifts mostly stopped and from 15 on my holidays were spent mostly with my significant others(at the time) family. i think i've always been fine with that considering i have such a big immediate family that it would just be stressful to have to buy everyone a gift. don't get me wrong, every other year or so we'd all send a little gift here or there, but it wasn't really expected. my mom or dad would sometimes give us money, or my mom would fly me home for the holidays when i wasn't living in florida.

i think as far my outlook on "christmas" goes...it  is so much like my mom's outlook nowadays. i really believe that this time of year can be so stressful it's ridiculous, especially if you don't have any savings and aren't making a lot of money. matt and i moved back to florida from prague 6 months ago with barely anything and as soon as we got our apartment here we had to start all over again. "season" has still yet to show up here in sunny south florida.... but this time of year is just so friggen special i can't help but want to feel like it's cold outside. so that means spending money on a tree, decorations.... etc. i'm not sure you understand.... i love nothing more than to come home, plug in my tree lights, light my winter pine candle, and.... eat? cook. whatever. cuddle.

whatever... back to my outlook. i was on the phone with my mom the other day and she was saying how she stopped treating christmas like most people do when we "grew up" she thinks buying all these gifts should be strictly for young children and your significant other. and i completely agree. i can't fathom at this point to even try buying a gift for all my siblings, my parents, my grandparents, and my close friends. it's just TOO much. these people know how much i love them. i think it also has A LOT to do with the fact that we're never together during this time of year. we're all scattered around the country. and maybe that's not fair to say, but for me it's okay and i think it can go without saying. i love nothing more than to buy for my boyfriend.... and this year i will be spending christmas with matt's family. we're doing a secret santa, and a white elephant. fun, right? on a budget, everyone gets something personal and something funny. works for me.

i'm looking forward to spending time with his family and my family in JUST 9 days... and this year i will be making something for the loves in my life.... which is always a great idea on a budget.

ALSO, i am super super excited about all our lovely friends who are coming to visit soon! (wish cheryl and andrew were coming, though!) <3

nail transfers

how to make nail transfers? i gotta figure this one out.... 

modeling 101

this morning val came over. she was one of my dear elementary school friends. we recently got back in touch through the lovely sierra. she went to highschool with val and they kept in touch a little better than we did. i went over to sierra's on sunday with val for "craft day". i made some kale chips and brought over my butter and some baguette to munch on(i guess that was my "craft" contribution). these girls are both extremely talented. they're artists... truly. i just sat and we talked about the days of our youth while i watched them work on their etsy designs for their shop and for an upcoming craft fair. when they were done, we drank some wine, ate some "burnt" eggplant and talked about cats.

anyways, back to today. val asked me if i'd model jewelry for her etsy site and of course i said yes(!) not only does she make her own jewelry, but she sings, acts, event plans, AND she's a professional freelance photographer. (etcetera etcetera)

we modeled outside of my apartment today and i had so much fun taking direction and acting a fool. i've always wanted to do something like this. i'm so so so shy. i was nervous this morning, but considering i've known val since we were 6, it put my nerves at ease.

after about 3 outfits, some sun and a sprinkle of rain, she had shot about 2,000 photos and we were hungry. we cleaned up my room that had clothes and feathers laid out everywhere(and my cat forever sniffing the air)... then we headed over to cie's to eat. we shared an amazing "grown up turkey grilled cheese" sandwich that had brie, apples, and onions on it. divine. while we ate, we looked through all the photos and had some laughs.... and some "ewww'ss and awww's". haha it was beyond strange to see all these photos taken of me. of course more than half(probably 2/3's) i criticized, but it was still awesome to see the amazing photography skills val has and to see what she could make of  me with a little bronzer and a hippy vibe(oh... and skills)

i can't wait to share the album in the near future :) oh and of course i'll be supporting her pretty feather designs.

these were taken by my iphone, not val's camera. i just wanted to show a little sneak peak. 

christmas jew

bought our christmas tree a week ago :) even before december rolled in. i sat in the back of the car with it. 

we put up lights on our deck :) 

these guys are solar powered. perdy cute.

got my slipper boots out. i got these a long while ago from old navy and need another pair. they're so comfy-cozy. 

can't go wrong with makin hot chocolate while decorating the tree :) 

 we added a few more lights and ornaments since this. i was worried kisa would mess with the tree but she's been really good so i actually added a bit more ornaments a little lower. 

YES, I KNOW. baseballs? footballs? AND basketballs? on my tree? i mean our tree.... haha.... i love matt too much to allow this :) but i figured we may as well both love our tree ornaments, so why not? this tree screams matt. 

 these were just supposed to be owl ornaments but since we haven't found a tree topper we liked, we figured these worked fine :) i've been trying to find a branch to perch them higher up on. 

peacock, snowflakes, and apples. weird?

gingerman

 been lovin the view from the couch. :) oh florida.

man, i'm never gunna wanna take it down.
can you tell how badly i wish i lived somewhere cold again? 

compound butter

such a simple pleasure in life; cooking. i'm in love. i really am. 

1 stick of softened unsalted organic butter

1 tablespoon of fresh sage

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

1 large garlic clove 

dash of salt & ground pepper

throw it all in a food processor and .........

heaven. cook with it or just slather it all over some bread. 

next time i think i will make a sweet butter. 

wrap it up in saran wrap and stick it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to re-harden it. it'll last about a week in the fridge :) 

i also made an olive tapenade and garlic jalapeno hummus. i am in awe of how quick and easy it is now to do things like this with my food processor.
best. gift. to. myself. ever.

kitchen dreams

for the longest time i have wanted a food processor. i have always used my blender for everything... pureeing soups, making dressings, and all sorts of bean dips. it was always kind of annoying because i'd have to constantly stop to mix it and the blending process would take forever. amazon was having a sale last week on cuisinart products, so i jumped on it and finally bought myself a 9 cup food processor. i am ecstatic. :) it arrived in the mail today. i am thinking about what to make in it tonite! white bean dip? pesto? salad dressing? there's unlimited possibilities. i will for sure post once i have something to share.

it's a beauty!