Happy Halloween.

Josh and I were Olive Oil and Popeye for Halloween.

Yes it's a couples costume but I knew we'd be making them an hour before we left and both of these costumes just require basics, most of which we already own.
When we were walking down the street we were offered spinach and such so I was really excited people knew who we were.

Ratatouille

  Joshua had to work all this weekend so we didn't do much. Which really just means I had tons of left over time to cook.
So we went to the farmer's market and loaded up on veggies. It was so fun to leave with with armfuls of fresh foods. (It took the longest to find a yellow squash because since it's fall there are lot of gourds and we can't tell the difference) We ran into some of our friends from small group there too which was a fun surprise.

Ever since seeing Ratatouille I've wanted to make that dish. The colors and the way it seemed to unfold when the critique ate it have always intrigued me. Plus since Joshua would be working I knew the chopping would take half the day and therefore keep me out of his way while still doing something.

Red Velvet Cake / Original Frosting!!!

  A woman from my work was leaving to go to another job so I brought in her favorite cupcake to work - No my husband and I do not consume all of our baked good!
She was really excited and they turned out very yummy.
  I don't like putting in tons of red dye because I find it to be a little unappetizing in fluorescent red so I went for a more cherry chocolate color.

  Also I think cream cheese frosting needs to be used lightly I only enjoy it in small quanities with carrot and pumpkin cake. But for a cake as rich and dense as a red velvet I want to enjoy the moist amaziness it supplies and it's original icing that is much more whippy and light highlights it instead of overwhelms.

  I know a lot of people will not be on my side with the no cream cheese frosting but I dare you to disagree once you've had it with this frosting- o wait you won;t ;)
My vegan co-worker even had to try one!

 

The wedding book is in!

I love graphic design. I loved making my invitations and paper goods and the poster for Joshua. My sister Mallorie is letting me design her wedding invitations and I'm over the moon.
So when it came to making a book of our wedding photos there was absolutely no way I was going to let anyone else do it.

I've dreamed of putting together my own custom layouts and finally receiving it with gorgeous full-bleed color pages.
The day it came I waited for the hubs to get home before I opened it- but it sat right next to me the whole time!
I'm so so proud of it (we didn't want a bunch of pictures of us up on our walls- we think it is odd to stare at ourselves all the time from the walls) So this book was IT

I used Blurb because they let you construct all your layouts and of course I needed to do that!
I posted some photos of the pages because I am in love! When our small group came over last week some of them were thumbing through it and it got me excited all over again.

We love that we can watch that amazing day unfold throughout this book now and hold it and remember. It feels like the perfect way to commemorate one of the best days of our lives.

Other wedding posts 1 2 3
(Joshua asks me if I'm going to make people wash their hands before I let them touch it, haha maybe)
Reminds me of Monica from Friends when she makes Chandler wash his hands before he touches the baby adoption book.   :)

Tie-Dye Cupcakes & Community

That's right- it's a TIE-DYE CUPCAKE

they look like sesame street!

Okay enough of the artsy pictures I can't help but take and onto the awesome, fun, community, and laughter filled night. Our small group came over to our place to hang out we made pizza, mulled wine, yummy tea, and tie-dye cupcakes (ironically I think the guys did most of the cupcake making)

It is one of Joshua and I's favorite nights in Seattle so far. We felt surrounded by people that genuinely liked us and were excited to be a part of our lives. When they all left Joshua and I probably just sat around smiling for like half and hour. In an earlier post I said it was really nice to have such a direct blessing and answer to our prayers for community and this amazing group of people have only continued to pour hope and community into our lives!

These amazing people are what is making Seattle into a reality and a home for us that we feel like we fit into. I think they will challenge us and we only hope to do the same for them. A lot of us are searching for community and what that looks like in our small group and, as you can tell, I just can't say enough how encouraging it is for us to be on that path with them!

So please enjoy our amazing artistic crazyness of cupcakes:

(O and I made vegan icing and cupcakes from scratch for the first time, recipes are at the bottom)

Suzie actually ate the batter! HAHA her toungue was so blue it was awesome!

Another girl was cranking out spiced/mulled? wine on the stove amidst the craziness. I've never had it before but it was so delicious! And the epidomy of fall

Ryan took his icing job very seriously! But his wife couldn't come so he put an "M" on one and sent her a photo of it and brought it home to her- come on say it -awww!

Everyone was actually very into the icing part, some people had themes, others were more interested in eating them. On of our friends was smart enough to put on more icing after each bite!

Then we had a fun game of telephone pictionary- we don't have any games for groups (we'll have to work on that) So we were reduced to using paper and pens to entertain ourselves. But it was fantastic some people had some really great drawings. Our game included ninjas and owls, cows and fireworks, A proverb turning into babies and guns (I think Joshua is to blame for the turn- that boy :)

Art of all sorts

One of the gals from small group said our apartment is like a gallery- it kind of made my night. I love the artwork and photos we've collected and I love even more that most or them are personal to us- either have something to do with our lives, jokes, or from someone we love.

The new piece that finally arrived in the mail is no exception.
For our honeymoon we drove across the country and towed all of our bikes with us. We also biked everywhere on our honeymoon.
We didn't buy and souveniers really on the whole trip and we don't really want to post photos of it we took at an arms length all over but it was an experience of a lifetime but I still really wanted something to remind us of that trip.
I found this artist on etsy who uses maps and bikes and creates really fun collages. She happened to have one of
Colorado- including Boulder where we were for 5 days of our honeymoon and lived on our bikes
Seattle- our destination where we now bike more often than drive
and I had her make me a custom of Cincinnati- where we started and first got into biking.

I really love that it tells a journey and progression of our lives and it will forever bring back floods of memories from our unique honeymoon that only we can share in!


Also I made more postcards!
We absolutely love recieving all of your postcards. I can't believe how many wonderful people have though of us and sent us a little note and we can't THANK YOU ENOUGH, we really cherish them and hearing a little bit about you. We have them all kept in a cute drawer in our library cabinet!

 I think the Missoni chevrons from Target were inspiring me :)

4-Versary

We've decided to go with 4-versary!
(Since we haven't been married a year yet I'm odd and decided anni wasn't right yet)

This week was our 4th month of being married and also the longest we've been in the SAME STATE since we started dating 3 years ago!

SO we were really excited and giddy all day. We couldn't wait to get home from work
We got a little dressed up and went to Thai Tom which is a thai restaurant that always has a crazy line out the door and only takes cash and only fits like 15 people.
It was so stinking tasty I'm tellin' ya. We had a blast and got so much food and thai iced teas.
We are so excited to be with each other every night and get to make our lunches together (I'll be honest he usually makes the lunches in the morning- I dawdle) and Yay for more versaries!!!

 

The restaurant was crazy and we were in the middle of it. The insanely fast cook was directly in front of us. When he was done with the food he put it in front of us and the waitress and she reached around us to get it. It was so fun and energetic. Rap music was playing in the background and it was a PERFECT night!

Super Pretty Yellow Cake

 So I made this really pretty cake for our small group a few weeks ago and forgot to post it.

But I'm SUPER proud of it.

It's a yellow cake with my homemade raspberry sauce on top and then a 

whipped frosting to top it all off.

I used a fun icing tip to make all the flowery dots

Josh was working that night and so I figured why not- it took 30-45 minutes to cover it.

If you try this you'll want to put the icing bag in the fridge every 

once in awhile so they stay stiff flowers and not soggy ones

Vanilla Yellow Cake:

3 cups flour; sifted (I know sifting seems silly but it makes for smoother cake mix!)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter; in slices
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
preheat oven 350 degrees F

1   Combine flour, sugar, powder, salt
2   On low speed mix in butter until combined
2   In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, vanilla
3   Add wet ingredients into dry in portions and mix only until incorporated
4   Flour a cake pan and pour in batter
5   Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

FROSTING Recipe


To Decorate:
1   Spread raspberry sauce around top of cake
2   Then put the icing in the bag and pick a tip
3   Pipe tall flowers first around the edges so the raspberry sauce doesn't run out
4   Then pipe the top starting at the outside edge. Make a complete circle around and then continue as 
     you go inward in circles
5   Then make it to the edges. Go down a whole row first and go row to row around the cake
6   Finally go back around the cake and fill in any holes

WALLA! It turns out really pretty and then I threw some raspberries on top!
It was a hit and it looked really fun.

Fig & Honey Scones- Brinner

That's right! We had Brinner the other night and it rocked!

Scones, Turkey Bacon & Milk yummmm!

So this is my 3rd scone recipe. Can you tell I love them yet? You can make them a bunch of different ways, their fast, and I love that Joshua and I can grab them in the morning all week for breakfast. I get really tired of oatmeal and granola bars and these really make a treat!

Fig & Honey Scones:

1 cup flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped figs (dried or fresh- I used dried)
1/4 cup honey
Preheat oven 350 degrees F

1   Whisk flour, oats, powder, salt, cinnamon in a bowl.
2   In another bowl mix egg, olive oil, honey
3   Mix wet ingredients into dry, then add figs.
4   This one is a little bit wetter than the other ones I've made which is fixed when you dump flour onto a
     counter and then press it into a 8 inch circle.
5   Then pat some flour on the top of it as well
6   Cut into 8 triangles.
7   I always place it in the fridge for 15 minutes so they don't spread out too much in the oven
8   Drizzle a little honey on top of them, sprinkle with raw sugar
9   Bake 15-20 minutes, until start to brown
 I served them with honey and fig spread on the side- super delicious and no butter in this one!

Mushroom Cheese Pasta Sauce w/ Asparagus

I love asparagus but it is so expensive and I always manage to let it go bad before I remember I bought it.

NOT this time. I loaded up on other tasty ingredients and whipped something up right away!

Mushroom Cheese Pasta Sauce w/ Asparagus

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 tbs. butter

1 tbs. olive oil

1/2 cup cheese such as fontina, parmesan, pecorino (we used fontina); shredded

Chopped and halved mushrooms

Salt & Pepper

1 clove garlic; minced

angel hair pasta

asparagus; chopped

1   Saute mushrooms and garlic in the butter and oil until the mushrooms begin to brown

2   Then on medium heat add the broth, cheese, salt and pepper and simmer for 5-10 minutes

3   Cook the pasta in lightly salted water

4   After a few minutes add the asparagus to the pasta water for 5 minutes

5   Remove asparagus from pot and saute with salt and oil for a few minutes

6   Serve pasta with mushroom sauce and add the asparagus, sprinkle a little cheese on top :)

Pumpkins & Corn Mazes

I've never been to a pumpkin patch with a real corn maze- one you can't

 see over. So we went to one this past weekend. It was really fun!

(I feel like the picture above is for our moms, hehe)

More pictures and words after the jump...