Month: January 2011

Last night I stepped outside of my little food box and tried something “new”. I felt like someone on the Food Network as I whipped up these delicious open faced chicken sandwiches. My boyfriend is a champion eater of sorts and he said it was the best thing he’s eaten in St. Louis so far. Either he was being super sweet or my sandwiches were kick ass.

This dinner is super simple to make and we were eating and watching Mad Men within 30 minutes. I imagine these would be perfect for get-togethers.

What You’ll Need:
1 Loaf of French or sourdough bread
1 package of readymade pulled BBQ chicken (we used Curly’s)
1/2 white onion
1 “stalk” of green onion
1 clove garlic
Cherry tomatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Shredded mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start by slicing your loaf of bread into 1/2 in thick slices. Place slices of bread onto baking sheet and heat heat both sides until slices are slightly tough/crunchy. Remove from oven.

To make onion/garlic spread start by cutting up half an onion and 1 “stalk” of green onions into small fine pieces. Next, cut up 1 clove garlic into fine piece. I then used a mini food processor to crush the onion, green onion and garlic. I then added a little bit of olive oil to make a thin paste to spread on each slice of bread.

Use the spread and coat each slice of bread with a thin coating of your onion/garlic sauce. Heat BBQ chicken by following the directions on the packaging. Spoon enough BBQ Chicken mixture onto each slice of bread on top of the onion/garlic mixture.

Top with cheese and cherry tomatoes and return to oven to melt the cheese. Serve warm!

That’s it! You can always experiment and tweak the recipe to include your favorite things. The boy and I decided that this recipe had the perfect combination of flavors without getting too complicated.

Oh, Don’t forget to stop by Nest and read a note from Rebecca! Get Involved.

We woke up this morning with full intention to head to the grocery and pick up the essentials since we’re out of EVERYTHING! We were slow moving and once we sat down on the couch, I knew the grocery wasn’t going to happen. Unfortunately my plan was to pick up some pancake/waffle mix, one of those things that you add water and shake up. Since that didn’t happen I got adventurous and decided I was going to make waffle mix from scratch and searched the lovely internet for a Belgian waffle recipe. Found on and off I went.

It wasn’t too difficult but those shake and pour things are genius. Oh well, next time! One of my favorite parts of this whole shebang was getting to use my new waffle iron that I got for Christmas. It performed well and we were eating waffles and peaches.

What you’ll need:
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. melted butter
4 egg whites

Directions:
Preheat a waffle iron.

Whip the first three ingredients and place in refrigerator to chill.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, 1/4 c. sugar, and salt onto a piece of waxed paper.

Beat the egg yolks lightly and add the milk, vanilla and melted butter. Drop in the dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine.

In a separate, clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry and fold them into the batter gently.

Bake in a seasoned waffle iron at medium heat until the steam stops escaping.

Dust the baked waffles with confectioner’s sugar and top with whipped cream. Sliced strawberries or peaches may be served on top.

There you go. It was pretty simple and the waffles definitely had a home made “from scratch” taste. What kind of tasty treats have you made recently?

Today was one of those days that when it’s over you wish you could have a day like that everyday. The boy and I spent the day out in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood hoping from one shop to the next, which is easy to do in this area.

We started the day at a few thrift stores and unfortunately came up empty handed. You’ll have those kind of days when you’re searching for hidden treasures. We then hoped to Left Bank books to snatch up Hunger Games. I received an overwhelming amount of people suggesting I read the book, so I’ll give it a try. We spent some time in the children’s book section which always takes us back 20 years or so. We then perused the periodical section and I discovered some healthy eating tips from the Food Network magazine and saw Ryan Gosling on the cover of GQ. (I’ve loved him ever since he was in The Notebook)

Our stomachs were growling like angry lions so we walked across the street to devour some lovely pizza at Pi. I’ve eaten there so many times, but the cornmeal pizza crust never gets old. I remember playing a I dare you game where we called NYC pizza once and asked them if they were the Real Piza. that was hilarious. You can also check this dare plus more I dare you by following this link. (brought leftovers home!!!) Before heading home I drug the boy next door to Rothschield’s, a pretty snazzy antique store with overpriced goodies.  I left behind a really great card catalogue unit that I would of died to have. Definitely NOT worth the $600 price tag.

We spent the evening on the couch again, drinking chocolate chai, reading my new book and watching some more of Mad Men. Life is good my friends. Life is good! How did you spend your saturdays?

I’ve been busy tidying up our little loft and look forward to showing you some sneak peeks come monday. Fingers crossed and don’t forget to check back!

St. Louis has quite a few breweries that are all worth checking out. Friday night the boy and I decided to spend the evening at Square One Brewery/restaurant. He ordered a massive taco salad and I just had dessert, a massive stout brownie.

It was a cold night and didn’t really feel like getting back out once I got home from work, but it was worth it. We just enjoyed each other’s company and talked about our plans for the near future. Lots of stuff going on these days!

Once we got home we plopped ourselves on our little gray couch; he fell asleep and I transported myself to Stars Hollow. ( If you watch Gilmore Girls you know what I’m talking about ) I sang along to the intro sequence song 4 times, which means I watched 4, 1-hour episodes. Can we say “amazing”?

I’ve got a 3-day weekend ahead of me and I couldn’t be more excited. Today is going to be a busy day full of adventures. Can’t wait to share them with you as they happen. Have an amazing weekend my dear friends! Oh, I’m getting new glasses today. Pretty excited!

During my college years I was home for the holidays and visiting my grandparents house. My grandfather’s basement looks like a natural disaster has blown through, but let me tell you…there are soooo many treasures in that space. (He’s a bit of a hoarder.) While I was looking around I came across some of his advertising stuff and my heart sank. How could he have THIS kind of “junk” down here? I brought it upstairs and read through both volumes of “400 Best Read Ads of 1968”. Two years later I was gifted the set as a graduation gift. Today, I work at an advertising agency and I can’t believe I own this piece of history. (It even smells like an old book. Love it!)

Tonight I was inspired to post this piece of my collection when I heard frecklewonder was searching through vintage magazines. Her kitchen has framed advertisements from decades ago. Matches perfectly with her mid-century modern house that I get more and more jealous of everyday.

Since I work in an advertising agency I see ads come and go and I’m amazed at how much things have changed. People are buying products differently, gender roles have completely shifted, print quality has improved, and typography usage has evolved. Above I’ve shown some of my favorites from the two volumes. I couldn’t show all of the ads because there are 400, but I wish you could see them. Most of them are humorous.

What are some of your favorite pieces in your collection. Do they have a story behind them?