nailed it!

Like any aspiring (but floundering) blogger, I love Pinterest! I love everything about soaking in the images, imagining myself as a domestic goddess as I whip up a beautiful plated meal and dreaming of Christmas gifts wrapped in craft paper and twine. Pinterest boasts many practical recipes and inspirational quotes and photos to kickstart the creative juices. However, some images are unfairly marketed to the underqualified. Take these adorable "no-bake pumpkin cheesecake truffle mummies," for example:

Click here for recipe (consider yourself warned): mummies

In preparation for a Halloween party, I gathered my ingredients which included cream cheese, graham cracker crumbs, and pumpkin puree (so seasonal!) to name a few. The cheesecake filling production went fairly smoothly. It was not until white chocolate was introduced that things began to go south. After two burnt batches of white chocolate and one grocery run (thank you, Neely!), the white chocolate was beautifully liquified. Somehow, the turn for the worst continued. I didn't even make it to the cute red mummy eyes. The finished product looked a little something like this:

#NailedIt! What would I do next time? There will be no next time. White chocolate and I do not mix. Perhaps I will post some successful Pinterest recreations in the near future!

farmer's market finds

Neely and I love to start our weekend with a trip to the Memphis Farmer's Market, which, in addition to all of the fresh food available, serves up live music, food trucks, and pet-sitting (yay taking Z-Bo everywhere with us). In the interest of trying to eat healthy, sustainably, yada yada (we really do care, it's just difficult sometimes), we are trying to obtain as much as possible from the Farmer's Market. This past Saturday, we came away with lots of okra, beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and some terrific jalepenos. To utilize our loot, I made one of my favorite recipes, Cooking Light's Bayou Catfish. It is deliciously spicy and remains crispy under the broiler.

Recipe:
1 T yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 t seasoned salt
1 1/2 t dried oregano
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
3/4 t ground red pepper
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t black pepper
6 (6-oz) catfish fillets
cooking spray
lemon wedges

Preheat broiler.
Combine first 9 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag. Coat each fillet and place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 6 inches from heat for 6 minutes. Carefully turn fillets over and broil for 6 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

We ate ours with our delicious okra, roasted with just olive oil, salt, and pepper, and jalepeno cornbread. It is such an easy, healthy, and delicious recipe and would work well with any white fish! 

no time had passed...

To date, this has been the longest amount of time spent since I had seen wonderful friends from college. It was January since I had seen Hamilton and Jill and September since I had seen Libby. Time flies! However, it still rings true, that feeling that no time had passed... A whirlwind few days led us through the Standard Beer Garden, lemon-ricotta pancakes at Sarabeth's, Central Park, a pit stop at the Frying Pan, on board a boat tour of the island, a joyride on CitiBike, a swing through Chelsea Market, and two lovely dinners at Serafina and Schiller's. For what this trip lacked in time, it made up for in memories that will last us "until next time!"

restaurant iris

No wonder this place was booked for Valentine's Day when we checked in November! For my 25th birthday, Neely and I excitedly claimed our (first) reservation at restaurant iris, stationed in Overton Square in Memphis. We knew from the moment we laid eyes on our table, tastefully decorated and intimately situated (which all of them are...no tables dangle perilously in the middle of the room, a big plus in my book), that it was worth it to suit up and brave the cold.

We selected items from our personalized birthday menu and enjoyed an elaborate meal and exemplary service. From the "lobster knuckle sandwich," which involves so much delicious lobster it's unreal, to the fresh fish selection (we had mahi mahi) to the surf n turf that Neely still dreams about, our selections exceeded our expectations and left us craving more a week later. The service rivaled the menu in excellence. Our waitress seemed to be ever present, as we wanted for nothing, while meanwhile invisible. She also must have overheard a conversation we had about wanting to try the cocktails at the connected restaurant next door, as she got us two seats there for drinks after dinner.

Of course, we concluded with dessert of devil's food cake with raspberry and ice cream, the perfect cherry on top of an exquisite birthday.

If you're in Memphis, you have to go! Check out their menu. As they say, it is "simplicity at its most elegant." Bon appétit!

nurse me

Z-Bo has allergies. He is, as a stroke of rather strong misfortune, allergic to me. You may think this sounds insane, as that is what I first thought when the vet delivered the dismal news. Just like people can be allergic to dogs, dogs can be allergic to people too. Who knew? I had been making him sick by my mere presence! What to do?? As it turns out, there are $everal $olutions. These include biweekly injections of a personalized allergen cocktail, special food, and medicated bath treatments, just to name a few. Some may venture to call this high maintenance. With the meds though, he has gotten so much better, and I have gotten braver. Eek, needles!

Of course, he enjoys a treat after his shot!