Does anyone miss the holidays already? I sure do, and to remind myself of the jolly that I felt the first 25 days of December, I'm making a post about June's Christmas photoshoot. I while back I notices on the Bone Marche website that they were hosting a free (donations highly encouraged) photoshoot, the proceeds were to be donated to a local rescue. I thought why not! The photos were taken by Photositively Illuminating Photography based out of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Holly was super patient with me and my pup, we had her posing for about 5 minutes, and got some really cool pictures. June really surprised me by how well she listened. She is almost 15 months old, and we have been taken her to training because she is not very obedient in public, as soon as she smells new smells or sees other people, she goes into I don't see or hear mom mode. She wants to lick everything and everyone, it can get pretty frustrating. The training must be finally working because she stayed still off leash for enough time to get these shots! Im a proud dog mom and hope these pics bring others as much happiness as they bring me.
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Merry Christmas!!! This is my absolute favorite time of the year! Its the time of year we dedicate to family ... our birthdays ... and the snow ('cause God knows after December, everyone that lives in the northern Midwest dreads the second half of winter.)
We are currently in Minnesota, I've been living here since Fall 2015. We hope to go back to the south and/or west US soon but for the time being, we are spending Christmas in Minnesota! We bought out first home, a condo in St Louis Park MN, about a year ago. This is our first home and we still don't have many things or much money. We're in our mid twenties, we are in debt, and we still live paycheck to paycheck (at least I do). So this Christmas I wanted to decorate without breaking the bank, I needed to FEEL the season. I've also been getting more into DIY, as in seowing and decor, but thats a story for another day. Today's blog is about how I decorated my home this year as a new, young homeowner. Main points: -This year I skipped the garland and wreath -My Christmas tree is pretty bare bones -I do not have center pieces -I focused on what I use everyday and what I already had - I wont give everyone gifts, and those I will give gifts to will be either useful crafts or money Skipping the garland and wreath was hard for me, I grew up with a mom that loves decorating her home for the holidays and these two were a must. I actually have a fireplace with a mantel in the condo, but it would have been over $30 to make a garland, a couple hours of time invested, and the main reason I chose not to have one is that I don't have space to store everything. If everything goes as planned, we'll be moving soon and I don't want to carry all of this, especially when I can probably make a much prettier garland next year or the following. So to decorate my mantel, this year I bought 3 stockings (Wes, me, and our pup June) and I bought a string of lights with removable clips to hang the pictures our family and friends send us and to add some cheer to that corner of the house. For our tree, we got our artificial tree handed down to us by an aunt that had two for some reason. That saved us some money, but artificial trees don't have to be expensive if you plan ahead. I like artificial trees because they are easy to set up and decorate. I decorated it with lights and plastic ornaments. I left the bottom chunk of the tree bare so June isn't tempted to grab any ornaments. She's doing pretty well at not messing with the tree, after the first several "leave its," and not leaving her alone with the tree for a while, she doesn't try to grab it anymore. My tree is a little bare because I dont want to add more decorations to it but I havent raided the dollar store yet or looked for decorations to fill the gaps. I bet you could set up a much nicer tree than me, I mainly focus on lighting the tree. I love watching movies at night with the lit tree to our side. I have not focused on center pieces, I've made a couple trips to TJ Maxx Homegoods last year and got a red Kate Spade table runner that I think adds just the right amount of holiday to my dining table, christmas disposable napkins in place of a festive napkin holder, and a couple other cute decorations for our entertainment center. For the kitchen and bathroom I got things that were useful and added just accents of christmas, like hand and dishtowels, a spoon holder, oven mittens, and a santa mixing spoon. That is about as much decoration I have for this year, but you know what, I love it, I'm feeling the spirit and I am so happy with it. When it's time to move pack up and move again I wont be carrying too much with me, I may even give some things away, like the breakables. For gifts this year, I;m going to make some candle holders, candy to gift in decorated jars, and give money to people like my brother who is recently engaged! I;; try to post again after making my DIY gifts this year. Love, Mel It s safe to say I'm glad my farmers markets seasons are doone! It was exhausting, but also it was pretty frickin amazing. I am glad I did it because it proved to me that I truly enjoy making my sweets and, honestly, making a little business out of my hobby. The markets we signed up for were Market in the Valley in Golden Valley, MN, and Hopkins farmers market in Hopkins, MN. I chose to sell my candy and chocolates at farmers markets because I wanted to see if I could. My boyfriend was extremely encouraging, and I decided to go for it. In Minnesota we have a new law that allows "Cottage food producers" so sell their homemade food products at farmers markets and similar events without having to go through extensive licensing or inspection. Cottage food producers need to register with the state's Department of Agriculture and take a short training on food safety before being able to sell their products (baked goods, jams and jelly's, pickled fruits and veggies, and other potentially non-hazardous foods). If you are interested in more information or are considering selling your products at farmers markets I recommend you visit our sates Department of Agriculture or Department of Health websites, or give them a call and ask if your state has a similar law. After registering for a business license with the Secretary of State, then registering as a cottage food producer, it was time to buy all of my equipment and supplies. I did not have a lot of time for the latter since I decided a little too far into the year that I was going to do it. I went to the restaurant supply store near my work at the time and started with the basics. I used my old bosses membership and bought the largest possible containers of sugar, four, nuts and seeds, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla. Then as I began to collect too many things for my tiny basement quarters, I made trips to Target for storage containers (different sizes), and I bought a 4.5ft storage rack at home depot to stack all of my ingredients and supplies. Everything I got had to be on sale. Then I worked on my recipes. This part was pretty fun, I began to think about the different products I could and should sell during summer, chocolate was risky but we made sure to keep it cool when not needed and most mornings were not too hot. I focused on peanut brittle, toffee, bark and rice crispy treats. Eventually I began making chocolate bars (I think these were my favorite), chocolate covered pretzels, my chocolate cookies, and chocolate pops. I erote most of my recipes down in a notebook and calculated how much they cost to make, then I figured out a reasonable price to sell them, I got some of that knowledge from a class in undergrad. I was required by law to label all of my products. For this I just bought address labels at target and printed my logo and the required information. I also got business cards, 2 t-shirts, a canvas bag, and a banner from vista print, I wanted to look legitimate. I definitely have more business cards than I currently need, but I think they could be useful in the future. I also bought a canopy and a table from craigslist and camping chairs from Amazon. I made a few trips to Michaels and TJ max for decorations, I got a couple of flowers, wooden crates, a metal tray, and some decorative bowls. I want to give a shoutout to my boyfriend, he helped package the candy every single night before our events, and they could be very long nights. He let me rob him of his weekend when he went with me to sell every single day we were at the markets (10 weeks). It wasn't all torture however, on especially beautiful days we would go to LTD Brewing Company in Hopkins. I needed him because I am definitely not a talker or a sales person. He's much more outgoing than me. Being a vendor at our farmers markets was so much fun, we got to meet so many people. We had a couple of regulars, and met so many others. One man and his brother were talking to us for some time about how their mom used to make amazing peanut brittle, and they liked mine because it was similar. They ended up sending me a copy of their moms notes from a pastry class she took in the 60s. After the summer season was over I got an email sometime in October about a one day event in November. It turns out one of the farmers markets we sold at gave the woman organizing the November event our contact information. It was cheap to participate and I though it would be interesting to see if anything sold during that season. We ended up making a little money and buying a lavender pack for your eyes or head. It was a win win in my eyes. In the end, we ended up not making any money. I did however make enough to pay for all of my start up expenses. I bet if I worked another year I would take better advantage and could actually make some money. Something I would advise to a person like me that maybe doesn't want to go all out yet on a business like this is to make sure everything, or most things, you buy for the business could also be helpful to you in your regular life. You can never have to many storage containers! Although I didnt make much money from that summer, I enjoyed every second of it. Its an experience I hope more people like me get to experience. I learned which recipes people like, I got some recommendations of some of my products, and I got to go out of my shell and talk to more people than I thought imaginable. If you have any questions or doubts please contact me. I'd love to share my short experience with anyone interested. For the last several months I've been craving noodles 24/7. Ramen, udon, pad thai, pho, Japanese Pan Noodles from Noodles & Company, and so on and so forth. Im even re-watching Mind of a Chef season one with David Chang. #abouttowatchthenewestseason Even with these cravings, I have to limit myself, so i decided to cook the tofu I bought last month. I found this recipe abut a year ago, and trust me I do not make it as often as I should. All it requires is firm tofu, soy sauce, honey, flour and, if you're feeling frisky, any other vinegars, sauces, powders, etc. You first drain and dry the tofu with paper or just kitchen towels. I dried as much as I could while as a whole piece and as I kept cutting it into 1in x 1in cubes I dried the newly exposed surface area. Then you coat the cubes in flour and fry them for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Last time I made this recipe, I baked the peaces of tofu for nutrition purposes, however I think Im sticking to frying from now on. When baked, the pieces stuck to the wax paper and broke when I tried flipping them. Frying is a lot cleaner and quicker; plus, when frying at the appropriate temperature, the food doesn't absorb much oil, the issue with frying is that fat links become trans, not good for the body. But what the hay! "Una vez al año no hace daño" ("once a year doesn't harm"), its all about balance right? If you fry it though, just make sure to dry the tofu extra well so oil doesn't splash back at you. After they become golden brown take them out and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil and pull a small pan. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of honey to the pan and turn the heat on to a low flame. Mix the soy sauce and honey until warm and add your cooked cubes of tofu. Mix them in the pan until all are covered with your sauce and serve! Another obsession of mine is steamed rice with soy sauce. So simple but so good. Serve your tofu on a bed of rice and steamed veggies, over noodles (which I need to try, why hadn't I thought of this before), or however your imagination tells you to. Im not a big cook, I mainly bake, but I hope this quick and yummy meal helps you!
It was a romantic sunday, in sweats, marathoning The League on Netflix, I made bratworst hoagies from Thanksgivings Omaha Steaks order, and I just get up and decide to bake because gosh dang it its valentines weekend and I wanna bake something for my man right?
Ive baked many things for Wes but this has got to be the most complimented ANYTHING I have ever fed him. It was hilarious but made me feel so good that he enjoyed his dessert this much. So you may be asking yourself what made this cake so yummy? Here are some things I do overtime I bake cakes or cupcakes.
I love shopping… Impromptu Thanksgiving trip to Denver. 14 hour drive from Minneapolis. We arrived wednesday evening and relaxed. On thanksgiving day we got some pretty amazing burritos, aside for him and veggie for me. I am the biggest fan of cactus. You can make a mean pico de gallo style cactus salsa, ill post soon. We rented an air bnb in the middle of downtown, it was a rooftop appartment for about 80 dlls per night. The day of we also got some groceries for dinner. I cooked us a yummy thanksgiving dinner for two with Omaha Steaks Top Sirloin (whom which i have a beef ;P… but really, I have a feeling I overcooked the steak, however it was still pink…. ). The only grocery store open that day was Whole Foods, we got some cold pressed orange juice, and vegetables for roasting- the smallest/cutest squash, green beans, carrots, and parsnips. We also got some cookie mixes and pillsbury croissants. Please excuse my hat eaten meal on a paper plate. After dinner we just sat back and watched movies in our cozy apartment. Friday the 25th we had whole foods tamales for breakfast, bomb, and took off for Fort Collins. to have some beers at New Belgium. When we arrived we noticed they had tours of the brewery so we tried sining up, but the lady told us wed be waitlisted since tours are by reservation. After about a pint each we check if our name had been called and we missed it! But she was so sweet she gave us tickets for the group that had just started and we caught up. The tour was amazing, it was about 45 minutes long and it was by an employee that grew up in Fort Collins. We learned a lot about the founders and owners and how great they treat their employees. Our tour guide convinced us to drink more beer out of cans since studies show the beer tastes better and lasts longer since cans are completely airtight and protect the beer from the light. Also, it takes much more energy to make glass bottle.
After getting a little drunk from the New Belgium tour tasters we headed back to Denver where we had a few more beers at one of our favorite breweries, The Great Divide. We absolutely love their stouts and IPAs, Wes is the IPA fan. At this time however I was feeling hungover from New Belgium and we walked around downtown looking for food before Ubering back to the apartment and calling it a night. We made the 14 hour drive back to Minneapolis the next morning. I haven't updated the site about my whereabouts in a while. I got into the university of Minnesota Food Science Masters program and now I've been living in Minneapolis for the past 7 months and 13 days…
I have to admit, the area is amazing. Its been such a trip living in a city where 90% of the time (since I've been here) its either cloudy, rainy, or snowy, or any combination of the three. I make it sound much worse than what it actually is. Although the cold burns, even in April, theres a lot to do eat and drink. Ive been making more friends and exploring on my own. Minnesota is beautiful. Except when you're driving around in the absolute dark along a two lane street in the middle of nowhere, which is actually very close to the a big city, unless you're into that. It was trippy. But anywayys, Im happy here, its a new experience, and im thankful for that. What a season! I gotta say I absolutely loove winter. I prefer cool winds over the suns heat of summer. And Im from SoCal, weird huh. Never the less, I am extra happy during this time of year, maybe its because I have an obsession with scarves or because I love how the oven warms every corner of the house when I bake my holiday treats. I hope everyone is having a great December!
My family and I went to my grandmas house in Tijuana for Christmas, celebrated it on the 24th and came back home to SD early on the 25th. So my parents and I spent christmas day watching movies on the couch. It was the perfect day. What made it even more perfect was that I had been craving Escamocha for daays so on the way home we stopped at a Northgate, bought some fruit, and my mom and I assembled it at home. An escamocha, if you haven't tried it yet, is just a mixture of fruit with honey, lechera, and granola. It's sweet, juicy, crunchy, and just perfect. Here's what we used: -Grapes -Red and green apples -Strawberries -Bananas -Pear -Chopped walnuts -Granola -Lechera, sweetened condensed milk -Honey and I forgot to buy melon, but it definitely makes a difference! It makes it much juicier. This is a very easy treat. I just finely chopped 2 apples, one pear, 2 bananas, 2 handfuls of strawberries and about a handful and a half of grapes (half slices)... don't forget the melon! Place everything in a large bowl, pour about 3/4ths of a can of lechera, about 1/4th of a cup of honey, a handful of nuts, and another handful of granola over the fruit, and mix. These quantities make about 6 cups of Escamocha. Decorate with more fruit and nuts and enjoy. Make this dessert for your next holiday party or potluck, everyone will love you for it!
I need to make more time for myself. Enjoy that time and work on myself.
I'm a happy person. Always find the good in life and work on the bad. Love and am loved by family and friends. Am successful in achieving my goals (thus far). But now I need more. Just doing good in school and having my family heathy isn't gonna cut it anymore (of course I still want them to keep their health!). I’ve been used to living the motions and being comfortable with just that for the longest time. I'm entering this new stage in life where I need to start fulfilling myself, my dreams, and start building this new adult life I have been dreaming about forever. And I believe that all starts with setting aside time for me; to plan for the future, dream a little more, think of strategies, or maybe event just relax and forget about everything for a couple of minutes. I plan to go to bed and wake up earlier, meditate and exercise in the mornings, read for pleasure more, not procrastinate in school, cook more, be smarter with my money, stay in touch with friends, and pamper myself with all that money I saved ;) There’s more I can’t think of or remember right now as I write here waiting for my mom at our salon (where I should actually be studying). Anyway, this is a huge undertaking and need a little help, so if anyone out there is reading these posts, help a girl out. Maybe share any tips, articles, ideas, literally anything that can help me stay motivated and make some time for myself. I know this will help better myself and just be happier. Change is exciting! |
AuthorMelanie, Masters Student, baker, runner, dog mom, lover of all foods. First we eat |