My favorite things from JUNE!

June is well over and gone, but that's not going to stop me from telling you what I loved about it!

Lately, I've been very in love with aloha prints (more on this later.) I found this beautiful pink floral blouse at JCPenney last month and I've adored it ever since.  In the store, it was paired with a matching maxi skirt, but I really like the casual look I get with blue jeans! I paired this outfit with my vintage Hush Puppies suede oxfords. I bought mine at a thrift shop near my house in perfect condition for seven dollars. For dressier occasions, I wear this top and shoes combo with a navy and white polka dotted skirt. I liked wearing this outfit when I was downtown getting coffee and thrift shopping with a friend!

During June I baked a lot of goodies, but I think my favorite was the Swedish prinsesstårta. I was searching for some Swedish pastry recipes to try out and this one caught my eye like no other. It was beautiful and delicious; plus, the assembly was pretty simple. The layers were spongecake, lingonberry jam, whipped cream, more spongecake, vanilla custard, a HUGE dollop of whipped cream, MORE spongecake, all covered in tinted green marzipan! I have to say, after making this cake, I have a new found love for almonds! I put almond extract in practically everything! I found a very good video tutorial, but it's in Swedish. You can get the general idea of what to do just by watching though!

This month I've fallen in love (once again) with Altar'd State department store.  I took my little sister shopping and I wish we had gone there first on our trip! She found some cute dresses and tops with tassels. I really loved that all the clothes were very fun and cute, but still modest! The only thing I didn't love was the pricing. For a girl who loves thrift shopping, $70 seems like a bit much for a simple cotton dress. We visited the store when there was a MASSIVE sale going on, so I felt good about all the purchases!  They have some really precious pieces, so you should definitely check them out online or in store if there's one near you! 

This month I tried some delicious sodas from Joia all natural sodas that I found at World Market. My favorite flavor (not pictured) was the lime, hibiscus & clove. It was so fresh and had a wonderful flavor. I had the grapefruit, chamomile & cardamom flavor with a lamb bacon burger (recipe found in Bon Appetit Magazine's May issue.) The blackberry, pomegranate & ginger flavor was not my favorite. I love all those things individually, but the soda was just too sweet for me. These sodas are perfect for a summer barbecue and/or pool party. They're refreshing and fun and oh-so yummy! The colors are so fun and festive.

I made some super tasty sweet buttered polenta pancakes during the month of June! Polenta is just cornmeal that has been cooked down to a thick porridge originating in Italy. I bought my polenta at World Market pre-packaged in a tube, but you should be able to find it most grocery stores. I sliced the polenta into 1/4 inch thick discs and cooked them in a buttered skillet until they were crispy on the edges. I served them with a pad of butter, a sprinkle of powdered sugar, summer berries, and copious amounts of maple syrup. These were a yummy, but healthy alternative to regular pancakes; and they were easy to make too! This was by far my favorite meal from June!

Peace and LOVE. XXX.

My Favorite Things from MAY

The spring has been crazy and May has been the craziest month so far. I haven't blogged hardly at all lately so I'll re-cap this month with my favorite things that came about during it!

I absolutely love this dress! I needed something to wear for an event the next day and wanted something classic and floral. Goodwill had already closed, so I was hunting at JCP for the perfect frock and discovered this gem! I wore this floral shift dress with an old pair of my mom's shoes (which she will never see again.) I Painted my toes orange because it went too perfectly with the flowers on the dress. For the accessories, I mixed metals: gold elephant bracelet, copper zodiac sign necklace, gold arrow earrings, and silver rings! All in all, this one my favorite outfits (this month!)

Ahhhhh, baby pears. They were just begging to be poached! This month I poached four pears in Chardonnay and Ginger Ale! I added a lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and 3 whole cloves to the mixture along with a bit of sugar. When the pears were done poaching I fished them (and all the spices) out of the pot and let the liquid reduce. Meanwhile I candied some pecans by dipping the tops in melted butter and then brown sugar. I used my cooking torch to melt the sugars. The yellow stuff in this pic is just cold vanilla custard spread out on half of the plate. Once the liquids had reduced to a kind of thin syrup, I drizzled it on the other half of the plate. This dessert was heaveeeeeen and my best creation this month!

This month I had a pickup installed in my guitar and I was so nervous about it. I was worried that look of my beautiful acoustic Takamine would be distorted. Luckily the guy at my local music shop said that nothing would show on the outside of the guitar and he could put the dials inside! She came back beautiful, so the next step was to find an amp. I stopped at my friends pawn shop to look for an amplifier and they had a Marshall Mini Stack in great condition! Not only did it have a great and clean sound, but they had it priced at $150! Normally these run $400-$450. This good investment in May will benefit me forever (or until I accidentally blow the amp.) The moral of this story? Pawn shops and thrift stores before retail!

I was at World Market about a week ago going absolutely crazy buying coffee and cookies and such when I came across this organic sparkling drink. I had the Lemon Flower Sipp soda and it had such an interesting flavor. It was lemony and grassy and floral and just really really delicious. If your looking for something refreshing I think this is it! I need to get back around to World Market just for these sodas! Also, Bon Appetit Magazine was especially wonderful this month of May. It focused on travel, and while I'm missing my sister who's exploring Italy now, it was a perfect read. 

I was having lunch with a friend this month, and she suggested a place called "Slim Chickens." As I was looking at the menu, I realized that I had never had chicken and waffles and couldn't quite call myself a real southerner until I had. The fact that the waffles were shaped like Texas was the deciding factor. I actually (much to my surprise) really liked the chicken and waffles! There was no sauce that came with them so I just used ketchup, which was not bad, but I think maple syrup would've been better. This was one of the best discoveries of May for me!





Peace and love. XXX