Two ingredient breakfast

I enjoy cooking and sometimes I thrive on making recipes that are complicated. For example, I told my mom I wanted to make Baked Alaska when I was 10... and so we did! And surprisingly it turned out!

But my life is far more crazier now than when I was 10 and I've learned that simplifying is usually the best solution, especially for breakfast! Here is a quick recipe I learned from my friend Becca for a simple breakfast. It's perfect by itself on the go or with toast and eggs or even pancakes!

Grapefruit Soup
1 Grapefruit
2 Oranges

A citrus juicer works best if you have one.
Cut the grapefruit in half and with a butter knife cut each segment out into a glass. Juice what is left of the grapefruit into the glass. Do the same with the other half of the grapefruit into a separate glass. Juice both oranges with the juicer. Poor the orange juice in the glass until its full. Drink and enjoy! Makes 2 glasses of juice.

*If you like a heartier and more tart drink then do one grapefruit to one orange.

Daily Eats #03

This week's Daily Eats is a round up of sauces, syrups, frosting and dips.

Breakfast: Buttermilk Syrup from my cousin Jarica
I'm excited to share this recipe with you because its a family recipe and we've been making it for years at all our waffle parties. This syrup is so delicious and easy. I'm convinved that even if I poured it over cardboard and ate it would be delightful.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 square butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.
Take off heat and add:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda-this will make it foam and expand
*store in the fridge when not using

Lunch: "The best hummus you'll ever have" featured on A Cup of Joe, by Sprouted Kitchen
I was excited to make this because I had bought tahini for another recipe and I needed to use it up. We halfed this recipe and it still had plenty for the two of us. We accidentally doubled the red chilli flakes and caught it just in time to scrape some out but the hummus did have a nice "kick" to it, so I'm not sure if that is normal or because of our mistake. I love the use of lemon and herbs in this recipe. I did substitute dry dill for fresh dill because I couldn't find any fresh dill and I reduced it by more than half so it wouldn't be too overpowering.

Dinner: Great Grandma's Pasta Sauce by Table for Two
I'll admit I haven't made this recipe yet but it looks tasty! Right now the way we do spaghetti sauce is 1 jar of pasta sauce, throw in some spices and frozen meatballs and let it simmer in the crock pot all day. I'm wondering if I could get the best of both worlds and mix the two recipes!

Dessert:  Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting by Not So Humble Pie
This frosting has so many things going for it. It has a great consistency for cakes, cupcakes, cookies and melts perfectly on warm cinnamon rolls. Its not overly sweet and has a great cream cheese taste. I've made this frosting many of times and its definitely on my "keeper" list.

No longer pretending

As the second oldest with four siblings below me I was no stranger to babies. In fact I once put approximately 25 drops of green food coloring into my little brothers bottle so he would drink it. And he did! He also throw up and pooped turquoise green for the next few days and I was warned of the dangers of "food color poisoning". I was practically a baby myself (11 yrs old) at the time so the concept of mothering to me was the same as playing house.

But now I'm playing house for real (sans baby) and its not so much play as it is work. And while the thought of mothering still seems like "pretend" to me, I am one step closer as I picked up my nephew Bane for the first time and watch him lock his eyes on me. My heart got warm and my eyes a little wet as I held this little miracle in my arms. A little piece of my baby sister.

And then I watched my sister be a mother. No longer pretending. She was such a natural, even in her learning. She wasn't scared. She was brave and selfless, just like she has always been. The love poured out of her heart and straight into her arms as she held him tight. I thought of all the mothers in my life, my grandma's, my mother, my mother-in-law and now my sister and I became overwhelmed with love and respect for the sacred calling that is motherhood.

Thailand//Ko Phi Phi

This is part 1 of a series on our trip to Thailand.

Going to Thailand was an amazing experience for me on so many levels.

I had some reservations going into it... long flight, safety, getting sick, and the fact that I had never even been out of the United States.

On the 19 hour flight over I took some medicine so I could sleep through the flight and I also took a little pill to help me keep calm (because flying kind of freaks me out) and I swear that pill kicked in and lasted the entire trip. I felt SO safe in Thailand. More safe than I do in California sometimes. The people were really nice, and ya they were usually trying to sell you something but they didn't take advantage of you.

We flew into Bangkok, transferred airports, slept on the floor and then flew down to Krabi. We spent one night there to kind of "recover" but we were doing surprisingly well so we got out and explored a bit. Krabi is a pretty authentic city and was run down but we caught a "little white bus" aka a small white truck that you ride in the back of and headed to Au Nang where we found a secret beach and some wild and crazy monkeys.

The next day we took a 2 hour ferry to Ko Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi is an island with a cove on both sides and a small stretch of beach in the middle. The small stretch of beach was crazy crowded and over run with shops and tourists but luckily we had booked our hotel on long beach, which was out and away from all the commotion. We had to take a long boat anytime we wanted to go off of our beach but it was only $3 a person.

Our beach had amazing views of the rest of the island as well as surrounding islands. There were other people there but it was never crowded. Most mornings we even had the beach to ourselves. Ko Phi Phi was definitly the most gorgeous, breath taking part of our trip. It was relaxing and a nice way to kick off our adventure.

Some things we did in Ko Phi Phi,

• Thai massages on the beach at our resort. I think they were one hour for $12.
• Snorkel Trip. Our snorkle trip was probably one of the only disappointing things in Thailand. We booked a cheap tour through our hotel and decided to only do a half day which we were glad we did because our guide was a jerk. Also, the reefs aren't as protected over there so the snorkling really wasn't that great and the places they took us were very crowded.
• Thanksgiving dinner on the beach where we ate a whole fish instead of turkey.
• Ko Phi Phi view hike through town up to the viewpoint and down through the jungle to Rantee Beach on the other side of the island.
• Morning hike to the other side of the island to watch the sunrise.

*If you are planning a trip of your own to Thailand for your information we stayed at Paradise Resort on Ko Phi Phi Long Beach and we highly recommend it.

skipped town

7:38 pm Friday night we got the itch to get out of town. We got on Priceline and did some last minute bidding and by 8:30 pm we were on the road to Monterey.

We stopped at Chick-a-filet for some free dinner (Alden won a years worth of meals, didn't I tell you?) and we got to eat on the road! One of my favorite pastimes that Alden isn't a fan of. I guess eating and driving is very different in Idaho vs California.

We scored a nice hotel in Monterey and found out that loads of celebrities like Kenny G and Bill Murray were in town for a golf tournament. Score.

We woke up Saturday and did what we always do, garage selling and thrifting. I found some gorgeous vintage dresses at an estate sale but they were just a little too big up top (boob jobs ruin everything I tell you).

Then we ate brunch on the water and it was delicious and relaxing. We hit up some more thrift stores and scored us a head board for $30. This is the kind of thrill we live for (exciting I know).

We started heading home up the coast and stopped in Santa Cruz to check out the beach. We walked the pier, enjoyed the shops, had some Mexican and went to Gap. Because no trip is complete without a trip to Gap (they are having some killer sales right now btw).

Our only regret?.... Not staying another night, or two or three.

daily eats #02

I started a new series last fall called daily eats and never really took off with it but its something that I'm still excited about so I'm rolling with it.

For a recap, Daily Eats is a days worth of meals all in one post! It will include recipes that I've tried and wanted to try and some tips and pointers along the way.

For this round up I found some real gems.

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles by The Faux Martha
I enjoyed the recipe because they aren't overly sweet which means you can put things that ARE overly sweet on top, like buttermilk syrup, for a perfect balance. Also they have a bit of orange juice in them which adds a nice zip.

Lunch: Glazed Beet + Carrot Salad by Sprouted Kitchen
I'm not a salad girl but I thought this recipe was divine. The sauteed veggies on top takes away the yucky salad feeling that I usually get yet it still leaves the feeling of eating healthy and fresh vegetables. The recipe calls for yellow beets, which are kind of expensive so next time I would substitute for red beets. Also my dressing seperated on the stove but on the salad you couldn't tell the difference. I would make this again but plan it for a dinner party or a special occasion rather than a weeknight meal/lunch just because the presentation alone is THAT awesome.

Dinner: Pan Seared Salmon with Avocado Remoulade from Simply Recipes
We've been on a salmon kick over here and I think the reason why salmon works so well for us is because we cook it on the grill. And when I say we I mean my husband. Seriously my man has some of the best grill skills I've ever seen. That being said, we didn't pan sear this salmon but my husband did sear it on the grill... which means crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside. He also cooked it with lemon and butter (the most perfect pair in my book). The avocado remoulade was good but made WAY to much for the two of us. It would make a nice guacamole as leftovers though. But next time I would cut that part in half.

Dessert: Baked Lime Pudding Cake by Tyler Florence
These little cakes are delightful. They are tart and pair nicely with some homemade whipped cream. They do take an hour to bake and aren't "cake mix" easy but they are worth it in my book. I've already made them three times!

For now, I blog

Ahhm.
Hello.
Remember me?

I've decided that life is not slowing down, its not getting easier, there are still only 24 hours in a day and I want to spend some of that time blogging.

What should I blog about? Where do I want to take this thing? The overwhelming questions that I haven't been able to shake for the past 3 months, an answer that I've decided will NOT come by NOT blogging.

For now I will blog about things that I love, even though that puts me all over the map.

I don't expect perfection.
I expect my best for right now.
And one day it might all make sense and present itself in a way that is beautiful, inspiring, and by the book.
But for now, I'm going to be me.

Welcome back readers. Welcome back me.