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Evergreen

2012-01-02T22:26:00.000-05:00

Beef Stew

2012-01-02T20:39:00.002-05:00

This recipe is one of our favorites. This time I made it for New Year's Eve dinner. Turned out amazing as usual. I don't follow any particular recipe on this one and am not sure if I do something different than anyone else. It is truly delicious and I wanted to share it with you! So, I hope you will enjoy it :) here it is...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 1/2 lb of beef
1 Onion
2 Small carrots
10 Small potatoes
2 Cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of mushrooms
2 cups of beef stock
1 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 Teasp of Cajun spice
Bay leaves, Salt, Pepper

Directions:
Set slow cooker on low setting or put deep pot with thick bottom on to slow heat. Chop onions and fry them in frying pan with olive oil until golden brown. Spruce olive oil on the bottom of the slow cooker or pot, add fried onions. Chop carrots and garlic roughly and add to the onions. Season beef with salt and pepper and fry on the pan until all redness is gone about 1 1/2 minutes. Add beef to the slow cooker. Slice mushrooms into big chunks and add to the stew. Add cajun spice, worcestershire sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper. Heat 2 cups of ready beef stock or use 2 beef stock cubes and two cups of hot water to dissolve them; add stock to the beef stew; add bay leaves (2 or 3); leave to cook on high in slow cooker, or low heat in the pot, for about 2 hours. Cut potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on size, making around 2 by 2 inch pieces. Add potatoes to the stew and let it cook for about 3-4 hours on high. After that keep on low setting in the slow cooker and keep warm until serving. When serving garnish with your choice of herb and enjoy!

Peppermint popcorn

2011-12-30T00:20:00.001-05:00

This season I've tried to make some peppermint popcorn. The first batch turned out to be such a success that I kept making it throughout the entire holidays season.
I didn't follow any specific recipe but rather measured everything by eye. I used a popcorn air popper to pop some fresh yummy popcorn (used 1/2 cup of kernels). Then I got a big bowl and transferred whole pieces of popcorn there, getting rid of leftover kernels. Then I took one candy cane and mashed it into a powder using mortar and pestle (you can also use processor).
Now the almond bark, I had a difficulty finding it in the grocery stores and eventually ended up getting it at Walmart. I used three pieces of the almond bark (melting directions are on the back of the package; 90 seconds was enough to melt three pieces). Use baking spatula to stir melted bark to melt any non-melted pieces until its all smooth.
Next step is simply to pour melted almond bark over your popcorn, add peppermint, pinch of salt and, if you want a little bit of color, sprinkles. Gently mix popcorn until its all covered evenly. Transfer popcorn into a tray and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. After it cooled down and almond bark hardened it is ready to eat!
So simple to make and so tasty to snack on :) ENJOY!!!

Prosciutto wrapped asparagus

2011-12-26T22:20:00.001-05:00

My husband came across a great recipe on weight watchers. We decided to try it right away and make it for tonight's dinner. If you are looking for the perfect blend of crunchy and salty, spicy and tangy, meaty and veggie...you would love this one. Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto with cream cheese. This is one of the tastiest apps I've ever had. There is a bit of a hassle while you make it because you need to carefully wrap every asparagus stem in prosciutto, and those who worked with this type of meat know how thin and fragile those slices are, oh and did I mention you also spread cream cheese on them; but I have to say that the prep work absolutely worth it.

Mandala Art

2011-12-20T11:50:00.001-05:00

I created this mandala for a gift and was very pleased with the result. According to Wikipedia Mandala is a sanskrit word that means 'circle'. To read more about Mandalas click here.

Typically Mandalas are created by using a basic geometric pattern. Using a pencil divide your canvas into concentric circles with the center in the middle.

After you're done you can start drawing the contours using darker pensil or marker (anything in darker tones will work depending on your vision; I used black marker). Start in the center and draw objects one after the other filling the concentric circles evenly from each angle (you can draw anything you want). I went with very simple flowerish/ raindrop elements.

Then when the contours are done and the pattern is ready, erase your pencil lines and start coloring. I filled in my mandala with crayons (coloring mandala is a lot of fun!).

I hope you liked this project, its very creative and a great activity to do with you kids.

Blue Cheese and red potato tart

2011-12-13T21:13:00.000-05:00

This is a must try recipe! Delicious small red potatoes with blue cheese crumbles on a savory tart. Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this recipe. I am a big fan of a blue cheese and OMG this recipe is something I'll be making not once :)

For the recipe click here

Crispy Prosciutto Cups with Pear

2011-12-06T12:31:00.001-05:00

The holiday season is here! It is time to think about tasty things I want to make. I came across this recipe at Martha Stewart's website; it is easy to make and sounds so tasty. An unusual combination of smoky and salty prosciutto with sweet pear...yum! I really like the idea of crisping prosciutto and making it into a cup. This appetizer recipe is on the top of my list for this season :)

I made this appetizer for New Year's Eve. Instead of the Bartlett pear from the original recipe I used Red pear (very similar in taste); in addition to lemon juice I used some maple syrup and a sprinkle of poppy flower seeds. Even though making the prosciutto cups was challenging, this appetizer turned out really delicious. I would recommend to use more meaty pieces of prosciutto to form the cups. The ones that had fat strings kind of bubbled up and were difficult to fill with diced pear. I also baked it for 10 minutes instead of 15 as they started getting brown very fast and I didn't want them to burn.

Here is the original recipe from Martha Stewart's website; below my version of it. Hope you like it!

Ingredients:

Prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 ripe Red pear, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
Sprinkle of poppy flower seed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut prosciutto into 24 two-inch squares.
Place one square (overlapping any tears) in each cup of a mini cupcake tin.
Bake until fat turnes golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Using a fork, immediately transfer to a paper towel to drain; cool completely.
In a small bowl, combine diced pear and lemon juice, maple syrup or honey and poppy seeds. Fill each cup with pear mixture just before serving.

NC State Wolfpack Basketball game

2011-11-30T20:20:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago we attended Wolfpack game at RBC center. It was a nice game. NC State won :) We went with our friend Jessianne. After the game we went to Cook Out...and Oh My God that place got some delicious food. I had a hot dog, it actually was one of the best hot dogs I have ever tried....yes, that yummy :D

Right when we were about to leave a huge grasshopper landed on the wall behind our backs....

We had a great time, great food...lots of fun...can't wait to do it again!

Thanksgiving appetizers

2011-11-30T11:46:00.001-05:00

I made little mozzarella/tomato/basil snacks on a toothpick. Here is the recipe I used - Tomato and mozzarella bites. Instead of balsamic vinegar/ olive oil as mentioned in this recipe you can also use any of the Italian dressings. I served these little bites on the platter with blackberries.

I don't have name or any particular recipe for this next appetizer: I took thin crackers (you can use any brand, I used Carr's). In this order I layered: whole slice of boiled egg on the bottom, then half a slice of cucumber and half a slice of radish. Then I squeezed a little bit of mayo by the flat edge of the radish slice so the mayo ended up in the center of the cracker. Then I used some tiny pepperoni slices on the top of the mayonnaise (I was able to fit three slices) and finished up with some fresh parsley.

I made two types of Russian salads and served them in the bite size cracker shells:

- Winter Salad (Zimniy salat) (on the left)

- Vinaigrette (Vinegret); made with beets (on the right)

We also had some fresh peppers and salary
sticks with Sour cream, herbs and raisin dip.

Caviar Bites

For the drinks I made strawberry lemonade with mint leaves for kids and for grown-ups I made orange cranberry sangria with cinnamon sticks. My husband made a wonderful turkey. He used very simple classic recipe that calls for salt, pepper and oil. He also made an amazing gravy that was a big hit :)

Watermelon for Grown-Ups

2011-11-29T22:54:00.001-05:00

This is the yummiest way to have watermelon!

Fresh and juicy watermelon cubes mixed with light, creamy yogurt, and sweetened with honey makes it perfect.

I came across this recipe at Ladies' Home Journal website. It is a truly great and easy recipe.

Mix together:

6 oz of plain yogurt,

2 Tsp of honey,

1 Tsp of fresh lime juice,

1/4 tsp of freshly grated ginger.

Spoon over watermelon cut into cubes and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

Enjoy!!!

Accidental Art

2011-11-11T12:54:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wanted to take a picture, but either the wrong setting on the camera or the lack/excess of light prevented you from doing so? Well, that happens all the time and instead of the desired view, you often get clumsy swirls or spotty circles. Do not rush to delete those accidental shots as they may become a very cool art. Here I have a few shots that I took at night from a moving car; and because of the particular setting that I used, the shutter speed of the camera was a few seconds long and my pictures ended up very swirly and obscure. Anyway, you probably have taken shots like that at some point when shooting at night. So, what to do with those kinds of pictures? I took my night shots worked the light and shadow to make the colors pop, and used a simple sequence to make it worth putting in the frame :)

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Pimp your car....with toys!

2011-11-11T12:04:00.001-05:00

One day on my way home I came across this funky car parked on the side of the road and attracting people with its coolness. It was calling you to come over and look in more detail what was on the car. I came closer and saw hundreds of toys, anything from the Star Trek collectibles to PEZ candy holders. Needless to say this car was a masterpiece. This car made me wonder about the owner :) This is actually a great way to utilize your childhood toys :P

For people who like cartoons this car represents a jewel. For about five minutes I was there with my camera; my eyes were running all over the car recognizing cartoon/comics characters. It was fun.

Mike from Monsters Inc.

Bender from Futurama

How many characters can you find?

Weird Fish

2011-11-08T09:57:00.002-05:00

There is a Thai restaurant in Boston in Kenmore square. This place has a special memory for us because my husband and I had our very first date there. The food is delicious, my favorite is Crispy Basil Shrimp; my husband loves their Chicken Pad Thai.

The place is great, but this post is about a fish. They have a fish tank in the restaurant with only one fish in it, but that fish is worth seeing :) Take a look:

Looks like an alien

Autumn

2011-11-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

Inspired by the Fall season:

Pictures are from the Grandfather's mountain

Linville Caverns, NC

2011-11-06T18:47:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we went to see the caverns and it was so much fun. We got to experience the total darkness, saw the bottomless pool and a lot of really cool stalagmites and stalactites.

We saw a little bat :)

Trip to the mountains

2011-11-05T22:46:00.004-04:00

Today we went to the Grandfather mountain. We couldn't wish for a better day. The weather was amazing and, even though trees lost most of their leaves, mountains still looked breathtaking. I hope you enjoy these pictures that I was able to put up so far. I promise there will be more :)

Blue Ridge Parkway

Here are some more pictures:

Grandfather Mountain, NC

2011-11-05T15:27:00.003-04:00

So my wife and I visited Grandfather Mountain today. The views along the Blue Ridge Parkway and up the mountain were gorgeous as always.

The leaves are well past their prime and are mostly gone; though there are still a few patches of red here and there.

This is a 360 view of the craft center we stopped at on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It used to be a manor house for a wealthy textile manufacturer.

This is a 360 view of the top of Grandfather Mountain, on the far side of the Mile-High Swinging Bridge (called that because it is 1 mile above sea level)

This is the view from the top of Grandfather Mountain.

Our alternative guest book

2011-11-02T19:17:00.000-04:00

We wanted to do something fun for our guest book. I found so many great ideas on the internet. My favorite one was fingerprint guest book. Here are some great options that I found:

These ones are from the "Bleu de Toi" shop on Etsy.com

This one is also from Etsy shop - Silhouette weddings

We liked the idea a lot and all these designs were great. However, we wanted to make it very personal. My husband and I met in Boston and had been planning our wedding there and we wanted to have this "Boston theme" to be incorporated in our guest book; so, I contacted my ex-roommate (she is an art and design major and definitely was the right person to go to) to help me with this project that I had in mind.

After brainstorming we came up with this:

We did Boston skyline (with main landmarks of the city); as our wedding was in Boston harbor we also included the actual Boat that we had our wedding on; and of course fireworks were suppose to be actual fingerprint signatures that our guests would leave for us :) I absolutely love how this turned out.

Here is what we have now:

If you like this idea, you can write me and I would love to put you in contact with the person who helped me with this project.

Wedding bouquet

2011-11-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

Vision: For my bouquet I wanted something very soft and delicate. I was mostly looking into light pink and white colors with pop of yellow, green and fusia.

That is what my wonderful florist end up making:

Peonies & Roses my bridal bouquet

And my bridesmaids bouquets:

Hot pink roses and callas for my bridesmaids

In the Sky

2011-11-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken from the plane when I flew to Russia. It is amazing how small everything looks from up above :)

Somewhere above the Udmurt Republic

And I have one more picture with seagulls that I took at Miami beach :)

Seagrove

2011-11-01T14:05:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I got lucky to join three wonderful ladies to go pottery shopping in Seagrove, NC. I've never done anything like that before and was very excited. My husband and I recently took pottery classes at NC State (Introduction to the wheel); I must say it is much harder than it looks :)

Back to the trip: we left early in the morning and it was pouring...by the time we got to Seagrove area the rain has stopped and the sky has cleared and we got nice sunny fall day. We went to see a bunch of very nice shops, saw a lot of great things as well as purchased some :)

I learned about very interesting techniques (Alligator skin; horse hair; crystal; etc.) Knowing how these artists make their pots really makes you appreciate it! I took so many great pictures, here are some of them:

Label:
Nature Pot
This Vase was made by a bug

We saw a lot of puppies; all were very cute and friendly:

Here are some more pictures from the trip:

Purple Shamrock

Moments of life in Boston

2011-10-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

Thanksgiving invitations

2011-10-28T14:40:00.000-04:00

This year my husband and I are hosting Thanksgiving at our place. We are so excited because its going to be the very first time we have a holiday celebration with our family and of course it is the first official gathering at our new apartment. We have a lot of planning to do.

First thing on my list is invitations: here you have plenty of options.

You can send invitations online using great themes from your e-mail browser.

You can also use iPhone/iPad to create something nice or use some apps that have seasonal designs

(check out Red Stamp, this app is free, they do charge $0.99 for some of theirs postcards, but most of their basic designs are free; this app is very easy and fun to use and you can customize your invitation postcard and send it in no time)

I decided to send paper invitations via the post. I used pale yellow card stock (4" : 5.5") with wording sample #1 (see below) and a little sketched turkey :) Font: Felix Titling. I used brown envelopes and gold pen to write the address.

Wording samples that I liked:

{ 1 }

Thanksgiving should be shared

with family and friends,

because you have given us

reasons to give thanks.

Please join us for dinner

and make our holiday special.

{ 2 }

Here’s to the blessings of the year

Here’s to the friends we hold so dear

To peace on earth, both far and near

Please join us for Thanksgiving dinner

Final Result!

Notes Art

2011-10-28T14:33:00.000-04:00

Scarlett & Gizmo Wall Art

I had this project done a while ago. It was very easy, took no time and turned out wonderful.

I took two piures of our dogs:

Gizmo Scarlett

Using Picasa I turned these pictures black and white, played with lights and shadows and cropped them to get these:

Then I used Colorful notes (4":6") to print puppies. I used blue/yellow/pink. To figure out how many note sheets to print we need to know the size of the art work you want to make. In my case I had a 18" by 24" frame. So I printed 18 notes total (6 of each color).

Next I used double-sided tape to put my notes on the 18":24" sheet of paper. I used tape because it makes it look very clean and do not affect notes (glue may show little ruffles).

Next just put the artwork in the frame and enjoy :)

Late in Boston

2011-10-26T22:43:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken with iPhone 3G. I thought they turned out very well for that time of a day and considering moving vehicle I was taking them in :)

Boston; near South Station

Boston Harbor Hotel

Boston; Rose Kennedy Greenway

Boston; Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge