Anna & Travis Engagement Session

Public Installation by Candy Chang

Sneak Peek: Anna & Travis

One sneak peek from the latest engagement photo shoot... congratulations Anna & Travis!

Homemade Tiramisu

Ingredients:
- 10 eggs
- Sugar
- Salt to taste
- Marscapone (roughly 2lbs.)
- Rum of your choice
- Package of Lady Fingers
- Freshly brewed coffee, cooled (or orange juice for a summer taste)
- Fruit of your choice, an option
- Cocoa (or cinnamon for summer taste)

Separate the 10 eggs, white from yellow (or red as they call the yolks in Italy) into separate bowls. Add 10 tbsp of sugar to the yellows and mix with a wooden spoon. I learned a very important note about eggs... always stir in the same direction you started! Add a pinch of salt to the whites and blend with a mixer until foamy (or like merengue). 

Mix the Mascapone into the yellows and stir until smooth. Take one shot of rum and add to yellows. This was originally meant to weaken the overall egg taste,  so not too much or it will be too bitter. Slowly add the whites to the yellows and gently mix, from top to bottom, almost folding into one another until color is a pale yellow.

Pour the chilled coffee into pan for dipping. You can use orange juice for a more summery taste. In a baking dish, pour some of the egg batter to fill the bottom. Open the lady fingers and gently dip into the coffee, then placing on top of the egg batter. The lady fingers will fall apart easily if they are soaked too much. Repeat pouring egg batter and placing lady fingers until dish is full. You can add fruit in between the layers for additional taste. Refrigerate for two hours or so. Upon serving, shower with cocoa overtop, cinnamon for a more summer dessert!

Humanae by Angelica Dass

"Humanae is a chromatic inventory, a project that reflects on the colors beyond the borders of our codes by referencing the PANTONE^® color scheme." A very cool way of looking at the Pantone world around us... thank you Angelica Dass. Now I just wonder... what PANTONE^® would I be?

Before you cook tonight...

Online Presence: The Great 2012 Purge

To go along with an earlier post about Online Simplifying, I've been off and on searching for sites I've joined and how each is benefitting my life, my past, and my future. The largest "purge" to date included my Groupon, Shutterfly, Ancestry.com, and Twitter accounts (along with other smaller sites!). Though I see the benefit by having these accounts, they aren't useful if you don't use them. I found myself spending more money, instead of saving with Groupon... I was buying gift certificates to places I would have never spent money in the first place. And with Twitter... I think the concept of sharing knowledge minute-by-minute is great, however I would rather continue my daily routines without the world knowing about it.

Have any of you tried to look at your overall online presence? It can be a bit overwhelming when you finally take a step back and realize how many sites have eaten up your time. I hope you can find some encouragement in this post to at least look into it! And talk about personal safety... all of your information floating around, whew. Be on the lookout for one additional Italian recipe this week and new picture from Venice!

Ciao, ciao.

In this house...

A beautiful hand-stenciled gift from my sister

Homemade Pesto

Pesto is super simple, not an exact science (again!), requires a bit of arm strength, and will make magic with just about any type of pasta. All you need is the key ingredients and a mortar and pestle! And don't forget to pour yourself a glass of wine, this is an Italian recipe after all.

Pesto Ingredients:
- basil leaves (you will need more than you think... try maybe 40?)
- olive oil
- 1 small packet of pine nuts
- minced garlic
- grated Parmesan cheese
- salt to taste

If you have garlic cloves, go ahead and mince enough cloves for approximately 1.5-2 tablespoons of garlic. Dice the small bag of pine nuts as best you can (and watch those fingers!), though this is not required... only makes grinding a tad bit easier. Set both aside. Separate the basil leaves from the stems.

Place a handful of basil leaves in the mortar and pestle. Begin grinding down to a chunky paste. It's okay if some parts of the leaves aren't ground down to paste, this will not affect the outcome of your pesto. As you grind, add additional basil leaves, as well as some of the chopped pine nuts and minced garlic. When the mortar is full, remove and place in a side bowl. If your glass of wine is slowly emptying, go ahead and give a good, full Italian pour.

After all the leaves, pine nuts, and garlic are ground and placed in the separate bowl, begin generously adding olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese to the mixture. Stir vigorously until all is blended, add salt to taste. Serve overtop the homemade gnocchi and you're set for an Italian meal! And now it's time to pour yourself another glass...

Homemade Gnocchi

During my stay in Menaggio, my wonderful hostel was offering cooking lessons. What a crime if you didn't partake! The menu for the day was homemade potato dumplings called Gnocchi and hand-ground basil leaves, among other ingredients, that make up Pesto. For dessert we created individual Tiramisu plates. I've made the recipes a few times since being home, loving each every time. Be ready to get your hands (and kitchen) messy. First up... gnocchi.

Gnocchi Ingredients:
- 12 white potatoes
- flour (you will estimate this!)
- olive oil to taste
- salt to taste

Boil the peeled white potatoes on the stove top in salted water. Make sure they remain somewhat firm, but cooked during this process. (And to note, save your salted water for your pesto!) Place on a large cutting board and mash with a potato masher, much like the example in the picture.

Now comes the tricky part... flour. Begin kneading a little flour at a time to the mashed potatoes.  Here's a quick how-to. To know you've added enough flour, note the dough should not stick to your hands, creating a solid base of dough. Like I said, definitely not a science!

Next, take the dough and begin cutting strips, carefully rolling each strip out into a long string. When the string reaches about .5" diameter, take a knife and cut into 1" pieces. Place the pieces aside and lightly cover with flour.

Continue rolling and cutting down until the loaf is gone. You can decorate your gnocchi by rolling a fork overtop, creating a cross in the middle, anything you like! Boil in water and olive oil until the pieces of gnocchi float to the top (maybe 5 minutes?).

Next up... pesto!

Tubidu from Paris, France

I came across a wonderful artist this past week and am so excited to share the work with you. Brigitta runs the little Etsy shop Tubidu, a shop full of wonder by whimsical watercolors. With Paris, France as her main theme, it's hard to turn your eyes from the graphic and color-popping work. I've selected a few of my favorites, but please feel free to see her collection here.

View in Detail

"Drawing is a hidden place in me. Here, I can be alone, in a different state of mind, without a phisical body and without any philosphy... only the drawing line, the pen and the paper exists. When I draw I only try to feel and not to know things... and hope it works."

View in Detail

View in Detail

View in Detail

A Lovely Reminder

The Skinny from ZARA

I thought I would change it up a bit and give ya'll a break from the travel photos! Back to some fashion for this post... My new favorite place for jeans: ZARA.

Superstretch: $59.90
Classic Fit: $59.90
Trousers w. Zip: $49.90
Slim Fit: $59.90

The skinny jean at ZARA is perfect; form fitting in just the places, fabulous color choices, and a variety of styles. Did I mention the price is spot on? I bought a pair two weeks ago and can't stop wearing them!

Mima from Menaggio

It was my first night in Mennagio, just settling in with my new environment. The mountains, water, fresh air, and trees were awe-inspiring as I aimlessly walked through the quaint town. Within moments I found a trattorria with a bustling crowd down a dimly lit alley. Walking in everyone stares at the girl eating alone, but hey I'm used to it by now! The homemade menu had my attention until the smallest little Italian woman with the loudest voice disrupted the dining room. She seemed to know the owners, maybe family, maybe just friends, maybe an every-night patron... who knows. But I soon realized that I took the last un-reserved table and she wanted a seat. This is how one of the best nights on my trip started.

Having eaten almost every meal alone I obviously welcomed the company. She ordered her meal without a flinch and the owner instinctually headed to the yellow wallpapered wall to turn on her favorite game show. The show was similar to older game shows in the US where one person receives a word and their partners guess. As we watched together, she started guessing the words, prompting me to join, commencing my first real Italian language lesson.

A little woman, so full of spunk, was teaching me Italian with her hands, pointing to things in the room, guessing answers on the show, mouthing out the sounds as her dentures plopped in and out of her cheek-to-cheek smile. As our dinner and lesson neared its end we sat and simply smiled at one another. She carefully raised herself, shouted something to the owner about paying, grabbed my hand, and said goodbye. I sat a few more moments before doing the same, soaking in the experience and the beauty of my first evening in Menaggio. The evening where I ate pizza, drank Peroni, and learned Italian from Mima.

Happy Memorial Day

This Memorial Day rings a slightly different tune. We've been at war for what seems an eternity. Just the other day, I completely lost it when hearing Taps on NPR. Celebrating Memorial Day in our nations capital will be something special, while we visit war memorials around the city, many of which I pass on my daily commute. Today I will stop. Today I will remember. Today I will give my silent thanks. Accompanying me to these sites will be my wonderful partner, Wilder, a newly commissioned Army officer, who has taught me so much what it means to serve and support. Thanks to my love and thanks to all who serve and support our country.

DC Herban Garden

Just planted a few herbs to start off my Herban Garden Project. The inspiration behind the garden stems from the fact that we were spending unnecessary money buying the individual packets of herbs from the corner store. And of course I really miss my patio garden from Charleston. The initial four pots will hopefully yield basil, cilantro, chives (and one spring onion from the market), and cat grass for Sebastian.

After planting I ran into a little problem, telling the pots apart. I searched the house for something, anything, to use so I wouldn't have to spend anything extra. Behold the Cork-on-Toothpicks naming system... they will absorb any water and will eventually look nice with a rich herb-ish background. Make sure to use permanent marker if you try this mini-project yourselves!

Bon appétit.

Hand-Bound Books

Latest obsession is hand-sewing paper together to make small booklets. Definitely rusty since college, but the small collection is growing! Book number one is a 13-page unlined journal, with a variation of a saddle-stitch binding with wax string the color of wine, held by a slightly darker green ribbon. Next booklet feature will have a DIY tutorial... needed to perfect the art before sharing!

Lake Como - Mennagio, Italy Part 1

After the storm...