When we asked my Dad what was the one thing he wanted to see in Maui, he emphatically stated turtles.  Luckily, we rented a condo unit that sits on a coral cove famous for turtle sightings.  We’ve been able to slip into the water and snorkel with these guys everyday.  It’s just as amazing as it sounds.  I’ll be sad to leave our new friends tomorrow.  Guess we’ll have to catch you later Crush.

As a beach aficionado, one of the things I was most excited for on our Hawaii vacation was seeing some of Maui’s different colored beaches.  The sand itself was more like salt and pepper.  The black sand was created when lava cinders were broken down overtime by the wind and the waves.  The white sand washed up onto the shore in the form of pulverized shells and coral. It was a little tricky accessing this hidden beach (we had to drive down a worn down dirt road) but it was definitely worth the effort.  We even managed to convince my Dad to get out of the car to take a look–now that’s saying something.  Looking forward to finding the red sand beach next!

Every beach here in Maui gets more and more beautiful.  It’s hard to really even pick a favorite.  We’ve made a goal of trying out a new beach everyday.  So we headed out to Ka’anapali Beach, one of the largest, most famous beaches on the island.  It definitely lived up to its reputation.  The coolest part for us was that when we looked to our left we could see the mountains in the distance. This is the first time I’ve ever been to a beach where I could see the entire spectrum of topography from mountains to sea.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the beautiful weather continues to hold out.

Greetings from Maui!

I mentioned a few months ago that Mr. A and I would be heading to Hawaii for a few weeks in May. Well, we are here and we couldn’t be more excited. While I don’t want to spend our beautiful vacation with my nose in a computer, I also didn’t want to leave this space empty for a few weeks. So I decided that I would publish one picture from each day with a small blurb.

Today’s picture is from our lanai here in Napili Point Maui. Our first day rained all day but the silver lining was that we were able to capture a few amazing rainbows. I can’t say that it’s everyday that I look out my back window and see a rainbow. It happened at least four or five times yesterday. Every time we ran outside to take pictures like we’d never seen a rainbow before. I’ve definitely never seen one as beautiful as this.

Aloha for now!

I generally try to stay away from making vegan cookies.  I’ve successfully made vegan bread and muffins and cupcakes but for some reason cookies just seem too difficult, too delicate. Cookies require the perfect balance of ingredients to achieve their chewy, softy texture.  That balance can be really difficult to achieve when you start removing key ingredients like eggs. So I purposely (maybe selfishly) decided to skirt the issue of vegan cookies entirely…until this weekend that is.

I wanted to make a treat for a new friend as a way to say thank you.  For me, every occasion/person has a goodie that’s calling to be made.  Some people scream banana bread, while others shout muffins (am I the only person that thinks about baking this way?).  For this particular person, a cookie seemed like the perfect gift.  I didn’t know her very well so I felt like a safe gift would be a cookie, who doesn’t love cookies?

Since my vegan cookie baking prowess is pretty pitiful, I opted to go with the most indestructible cookie recipe I know, Oatmeal Raisin.  Rolled oats can cover over a variety of texture issues and other flaws.  I wanted to step up the recipe a bit by not only making it vegan but also by making it with peanut flour.  Peanut flour is a peanut butter addict’s best friend.  Typically, it’s lower in fat than its peanut butter brother because it’s made from partly defatted peanuts but it still carries the same protein punch.

This recipe ended up making 2 dozen fairly large cookies, which is a good thing because I simply could not resist them.  Every time I walked into the kitchen, I had to grab another.  They were the perfect combination of salty and sweet with a soft, chewy middle.  Luckily, I was able to muster enough self-control to leave a few cookies for the intended receiver, although I may already be scheming about when I can make some more.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup vegan margarine
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 3/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed whisked with 3 tablespoons hot water)
• 2 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup peanut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Make flax egg.  Add flaxseed to water, whisk, and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes.

Add margarine, applesauce, raw sugar, and brown sugar to a large bowl.  Cream ingredients together.

Then beat in flax egg and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, add dry ingredients (rolled oats, peanut flour, baking soda, spices, baking powder, and salt) and mix together.

Then add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are incorporated.

Next fold in raisins.

Prepare a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

Add large spoonful of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing each spoonful about 2 inches apart.

Place cookie sheet in oven for 10-12 minutes.

Remove sheet from oven.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Then remove cookies from sheet and place them onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Pour a glass of your choice of milk and enjoy!  They are especially delicious when they are still warm from the oven.

With our second year wedding approaching on the horizon (which I seriously cannot believe that I’m typing—how has it possibly been two years?), Mr. A and I wanted to setup a date to return to the place where it all began, Antrim 1844.

On our one year anniversary, my boss and her husband gave us a gift certificate to Antrim.  It was an especially sweet gesture coming from them as they had gotten married there in May several years before we did.  The certificate expired a few days before our anniversary so we couldn’t use it for the actual date.  Instead, we picked the closest day to our anniversary as possible.  With our Hawaii trip coming up in the next week, the only time we had left to visit Antrim was this weekend so we set up a dinner date.

Besides being a bed and breakfast and a wedding venue, Antrim is also a fine dining restaurant.  We decided this time around just to stick to dinner since May is going to be one expensive month for us.  Even though we were only there for a few hours, I fell in love all over again.

We arrived a few hours before our reservations so we could walk around the property and take some pictures.  It was just as beautiful as I remember.

The garden was in full bloom.

The fountains were dripping their melodic tune.

The mansion was still stately.

The pool was still an oasis.

And the trees were still filled with character.  We actually shot our first look pictures under this grand old tree.  I still remember Mr. A’s face when he turned around and saw me for the first time.  It’s a look and a feeling that I hope never disappears.

It was so temperate outside that we decided to sit on the lawn and wait for our hors d’oeuvres (I swear one day I will be able to type that word without looking it up) to start.  Since we got there so early, we were actually able to get passed hors d’oeuvres for a lot longer than we should have.  Typically, you get about thirty minutes of passed hors d’oeuvres in the mansion before you are taken to your seats in the restaurant.  We managed to squeeze in about an hour since we arrived during the hors d’oeuvre time for the 6 o’clock sitting.  I’m definitely not complaining.

We started off with the grilled ahi tuna with an aioli mustard spread on a fried wonton.  I’ve had these several times before at Antrim and I’ve always loved the spread.

Then the salmon parmesan squares.  We actually had these for our own wedding.  Sadly, the squares weren’t my friend that evening.  Immediately after our ceremony, we were given a tray of hors d’oeuvres including these squares.  I dove right for the squares, which were fresh out of the oven, only to have it fall apart and drop to the ground mere inches from my dress.  Needless to say, I didn’t have any more hors d’oeuvres after that close call.  However, I did get to eat them to my heart’s content this weekend.  Yum.

Next were these pistachio squares with cheese and red peppers.  I can’t remember the cheese name but it started with a f.  This was a really fun combination as well.

While the food was being passed around, we wandered over to the fountain to attempt to take a few self-portraits.  The servers could tell we were doing a terrible job and offered to take a picture of us.   It’s been two years and I still love this guy.

Shortly after our pictures, we were lead down to the restaurant to take our seats.  The restaurant is located in the smokehouse of the original house.

It’s an intimate atmosphere with several small unique rooms.

We started our meal with an amuse bouche of oyster and seaweed salad.  I’m not a seaweed fan but the oyster was tender and juicy.

Then we moved onto our appetizers which we were able to select.  Being the Maryland girl that I am (and remembering how fabulous it was previously), I picked the crab soup with crab ragout.  I wish I could have convinced my husband to serve this at our wedding.  It’s one of the best crab soups I’ve ever had.

Mr. A picked the fruit and cheese plate, which had several artisanal cheeses accompanied by grape halves, roasted pineapple mustard, and a slice of almond and apricot cake.  I was too busy stuffing my face with the soup to notice his plate but I’m sure it was delicious.

Our third course was the salad course, complete with a shell made from lentils.  I tried not to fill up on salad since I knew we had three other courses coming.  Antrim knows how to fill you up to the brim.

Then our intermezzo was served—a refreshing bite of cranberry champagne ice—the perfect way to cleanse our palates.

Finally, it was time for the stars of the evening—our main courses.  Mr. A went with the filet mignon béarnaise, which should surprise no one.  It’s a black angus filet of beef, pan seared and finished by roasting, served with duchesse potatoes and asparagus.  The beef is topped with two sauces—a red wine demi-glace and a béarnaise sauce.  The filet is the hands down the best dish at Antrim.  It’s perfectly cooked every time.  I could lick the red wine demi-glace off the plate but I’m too classy for that—actually there were just a lot of people around.

I decided to go with the lamb roulade with chevre and pinenuts.  It’s a boneless lamb loin rolled with chevre cheese and pinenuts, roasted and served with a green peppercorn and cognac demi-glace. I have a love affair with chevre cheese but Mr. A’s dish was still better.  I was trying to bring some variety to the table (and don’t get me wrong the dish was delicious but not nearly as delectable as the filet).  Next time, I think I’ll stick with the filet.  This is probably the only place I’ll order beef from willingly.

Dinner was finished with a panache of desserts, a chocolate bread pudding, a butterscotch pudding, and a vanilla cake. The butterscotch pudding was our favorite—so much so that I tried to sneak in way more bites that my fair half.  It was definitely tough considering how much food we had already eaten but man was it good.

Before we decided to call it a night, we headed back outside to take some more pictures. I just couldn’t leave the place without soaking in some more memories.

We headed back to the wedding pavilion and reminisced about our toasts and all the fun dancing.

We are so lucky that we are able to visit our wedding venue year after year and relive our experiences.  I think we’ve found a new anniversary tradition.

With one last picture, we hopped in the car and waved adieu to the place that will always be special in our hearts.  While we will grow and change (and age) in between our visits, I know that Antrim will always be the same.  It will always be the beautiful place that served as the fitting background to the culmination of our love and the beginning of our wonderful life together.

Thank you Antrim for the memories of our past and the ones of our future.

Here’s to starting off our second year remembering how beautifully the first year has been.

Since I don’t get to exercise my creative muscles doing a lot of house decorating and rearranging this days, I like to flex those muscles in the kitchen instead.  Specifically, I really enjoy playing with flavor combinations.  I’ve long been a fan of blueberries but I’ve just recently fallen for wild blueberries.  They are much like their traditional brethren but they have a higher concentration of antioxidants and their flavor is more intense (sweeter and tangier).

I’ve wanted to make wild blueberry scones for quite some time but I wanted to play around with different spice combinations too.  So often we tend to rely on cinnamon to infuse flavor into our baked goods.  While cinnamon is delicious, it’s always nice to expand your horizons to uncharted territory.  Cardamom is a spice that highly unused and unappreciated but it’s perfect for baking.  It brings an aromatic, citrus, herbal pop that pairs beautifully with sweet treats.

So this scone is an exploration of the fun and unexpected combination of wild blueberries and cardamom.  If you can’t find dried wild blueberries, feel free to substitute regular dried blueberries. The blueberry flavor won’t be as potent but maybe that’s a good thing for you blueberry haters. Don’t skip out on the cardamom though–it brings an incredible depth and variety to an otherwise plain jane scone.  I think I’ll be using cardamom more often.

Ingredients:

Scones:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons vegan margarine, frozen and then cut into pea size squares
• 1/2 cup wild dried blueberries
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 cup raw sugar

Glaze:

• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine non-dairy milk and lemon juice in a small bowl.  Allow to sit.

In a large bowl, add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt) and dried blueberries.  Stir together.

Flick in small pea sized amounts of butter into dry ingredients.  Using your fingers or two forks gently sift through the flour until all of your margarine is covered in flour.

Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and mix with your hands until the mixture comes into a dough.

Then transfer dough onto a floured surface.

Create a circle out of dough that’s about 1 inch tall and then slice into 8 pieces.

Place cut scones onto greased cookie sheet.  Then sprinkle raw sugar over top of scones.

Put cookie sheet in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove scones from oven and place them on a cooling rack.

Combined glaze ingredients in a small bowl. When the scones are completely cool, drizzle the glaze over the scones.

Allow glaze to dry and enjoy.

First up on the list is this delicious orange cranberry banana bread.  I wanted to pick versatile, universally loved sweets since I wasn’t sure of everyone’s preferences.  Banana bread always seems to be a crowd favorite (except for my father who can’t stand “rotten” bananas–the mere sight of them makes him gag).  I decided to add a fun twist to the regular banana bread by mixing in some orange juice and zest as well as some cranberries.  I thought they would add a little brightness and cheer to the morning.

Little did I know that O.J. would be such a funny phrase that morning.  While the girls and I were getting our makeup and hair done, the wedding planner for T’s wedding dropped in to check on everyone.  She was incredibly sweet and attentive but very insistent on getting T to eat something (rightfully so, no one wants to see a passed out bride).  After hearing that T had some breakfast but not lunch, she insisted on bringing up some O.J. for T to drink to help keep up her potassium, and reduce her odds of passing out at the altar.  The next few times the wedding planner checked in she checked on the O.J. glass to see T’s progress. I kept joking that we needed to pour some down the sink before the planner came back.  Maybe we just should have told her that T ate some of this bread, it had O.J. in it after all

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flaxseed whisked together with 6 tablespoons warm water)
• 1/2 cup soy yogurt
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dry cranberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar, margarine, and yogurt together.

Then add in orange zest and orange juice and whisk.

Next whisk in flax eggs.

In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda).

Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and stir until combined.

Fold in mashed bananas and dried cranberries.

Prepare a large loaf pan with non-stick spray or parchment paper.  Pour in bread mixture and place in oven.

Allow to bake for 60 minutes, or until you can remove a toothpick from the center of the loaf cleanly.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Then remove bread from pan and allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Slice and enjoy.

If you ask me, this bread is the perfect replacement for a glass of O.J.

This weekend was the much anticipated wedding festivities for my closest friend Theresa and her new husband, Nick.  While my photos certainly don’t do the festivities justice, I thought I would share a few, since this wedding had too many sweet details not to share it with you.

T & N got married at the Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace, a small waterside town in northern Maryland.  The Vandiver is a sweet Victorian styled Bed and Breakfast with a wedding pavilion out back.

Being the history nerds that we are, we asked the staff about the house’s story.  Turns out it was built by Murray Vandiver in 1886 as a wedding present to his wife Anna.  Just to prove how much he loved her, he had every wooden floor plank engraved with the phrase “with love to Anna.”  It only seems appropriate that they have weddings there now.

T’s wedding day started out early in the morning with hair and makeup courtesy of Baltimore Bridal Beauty.  The girls were really sweet and did a great job enhancing everyone’s natural beauty.

This was one of my favorite parts of the day because of the joy and anticipation on T’s face was contagious.  She is a music lover and she took the morning beauty session to rock out to some of her favorite songs.  When one of our favorite Third Eye Blind songs came on, I couldn’t help but get thrown back to our high school years.

She and I used to drive around in my car listening to Third Eye Blind, Eve 6, and Good Charlotte on repeat.  We’d sing along to every song at the top of our lungs, until I would hit a pothole and my CD player (remember those things?) would skip, and the music would fade out. Without missing a beat, we’d stop singing, wait for the song to come back, and then start singing along again when the music was back.  Here I was ten years later, watching her getting ready to marry her best friend.  I felt so honored and so humbled in that moment.  We’ve come so far since those days, T, it’s hard to believe time has flown by so fast.

T was the epitome of the perfect bride.  She was calm and relaxed and beyond excited to get married.  And it didn’t hurt that she looked absolutely gorgeous.

While the bridal party finished getting dressed and having some portraits taken, I asked Mr. A to take the camera out for a spin around the property.  He was in history nerd heaven.

From the original spiral staircase.

To the stained glass windows.  The details in the mansion were so lovely.

With our portraits out of the way, it was time for the ceremony to start.  T’s uncle, who officiates weddings on the side, served as their officiant for the day.  He did a beautiful job crafting a ceremony that matched their personalities and relationship perfectly.

This was my first time being a member of a bridal party and I have to say the best part is being able to get a front seat at the ceremony.  From my vantage point, I could see N’s face perfectly.  He’s typically a very quiet, reserved person (unless the Ravens or the Terps are losing—then you don’t want to know him).  It gave me so much joy to see his face filled with so much emotion.  I’ve never seen him smile so much.  Watching him stare at T was seriously melting my heart.  It really was a touching ceremony.

When the ceremony was over, we headed back inside the mansion for cocktail hour, where Mr. A was able to grab a few detail shots.   Above is the escort card table.  T & N went with a Maryland crab theme since they are both born and raised Marylanders and they both went to University of Maryland (go Terps!).

When the cocktail hour was over, we headed back to the pavilion, where the ceremony was held, to a flipped over reception space.  That would be me pointing to the champagne we had to grab after being announced into the reception.  I’ve got my priorities straight clearly.

The table decorations continued with the Maryland theme.  I love the gorgeous mason jar centerpieces—who doesn’t love a bluebell mason jar?

And adorable crab table numbers.  Crab claws making a heart, seriously how cute?

A Maryland themed wedding wouldn’t be complete without these crab mallet favors.

While dinner was being served, I managed to sneak in a picture with Mr. A (thanks for being our cameraman Jay).  Mainly, I just wanted to add this picture so I could show off Mr. A’s brand new custom suit that he ordered for the wedding.  He’s pretty proud of it.

We spent the rest of the evening dancing with our friends and watching a few very special moments.

This would be one of my favorite T faces.  It cracks me up every time.

The father-daughter dance was also one of my highlights. They picked one of the sweetest songs, “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” by Darius Rucker.  It’s one of the most perfect father-daughter songs out there—go listen to it immediately if you have not.  I cry every time.

There’s nothing more precious than the Mother of the Bride’s face during the father daughter dance.

The day was filled with so much laughter and so much joy and a whole lot of love.  It was such an honor and a pleasure to be a part of your wedding day, T & N.  We love you both so much and wish you nothing but the best.  P.S. We would also appreciate it if you could keep giving the Ravens and the Orioles such good luck. (As T’s uncle pointed out, since they’ve been engaged, the Orioles went to the playoffs and the Ravens won the Super Bowl.  I guess the Maryland Gods approve)

Can’t wait to see what the future holds for you, T & N.

I’ve been on the quiet side lately because there really isn’t anything that interesting happening in the casa de Adams.  With the housing market picking up, we’ve been spending all our free time looking at homes with our realtor (she probably knows us a little too well by now).

After spending nearly the whole day Saturday looking at houses, we found one that we both loved.  It had the perfect first floor arrangement that we’ve been looking for—a large kitchen overlooking on adjacent open family room.  We liked it so much that we asked my Mom to come with us on Sunday to check it out again.  After falling in love all over again, we put in an offer.

We knew it was going to be competitive (the listing agent lets us know that there were already several other offers).  So we did the best we could to make ourselves competitive—short of all the crazy things like bust our budget or waive an inspection.  While I loved the house, I knew as soon as I heard that we were going to be competing against other offers that we were finito.  We simply don’t have as large of a budget or as much money tucked away for a down payment as other people looking in our price range do.

On Monday morning, we got the call confirming what I already knew—we lost the bidding war.  The winning offer could put 30% down.  Since this house was owned by a relocation company, all they cared about was picking a guaranteed deal—hard to argue with someone who can drop over 100k up front.  So if you are keeping track at home that would be bid number three that we have lost.

Normally, losing a house is a pretty crushing experience.  There are an incredible amount of emotions flying around when you are making the biggest purchase of your life.  To add to that pressure, we know that whatever house we pick will be the house in which we raise our family—lord willing—for a long time.  But this time around, losing the bid didn’t feel nearly as heartbreaking.

Considering the world events that have transpired over the last few weeks, losing a bid on a house seemed like a pretty petty thing with which to be upset.  While I would certainly love to find our house, the fact that we haven’t found it yet shouldn’t impede on our happiness today in this moment.  If we didn’t win an offer, then the house just wasn’t meant to be.

I guess this is the calm and introspection that comes with dealing with a world that is an unpredictable and fragile as ours.  We have to learn to see just how privileged and blessed we are even when we are upset.  It could always be worse.  Life could always be harder.

So I will be thankful for the roof that’s over my head today and for a husband that makes every place feel like home.  One day will find that a house that we can call our own—maybe a week from now, or a month, or a year.  In the meantime, I’ll focus on the things and people that matter.