Oscar worthy

Check out these adoreable best picture cookies from the bakery Eleni's! They also have best actor and actress ones! I think the "Up" cookie is my favorite. How can you not love those balloons!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

A chocolate house

Is there anything Oprah can't do?! The set of a recent show of hers was *drool* made out of Godiva chocolate. Seriously, my idea of heaven on earth.

I so wish we were friends...

Sunday skiing

At the top of Crystal Mountain before skiing down

elevation: 6,872 ft.

It has been a busy winter, but Nick and I finally made it up skiing and had an amazing day up in the mountains!

Saturday afternoon we went up to my parents cabin and then headed out early Sunday morning for a great day of skiing under blue skies!

Happy Mardi Gras

Or Happy Carnival in Venice! When I studied abroad in Rome, we were in Venice leading up to Carnival so we got to see all the people dressed up in their fancy masks, and they really go all out - so cool!

unrelated to Carnival, just me with a pigeon in St. Mark's Square

top image: Flickr

Happy Valentine's weekend

I can't belive it is mid-February, how did that happen?!

I have Monday off and I am so excited for a long weekend! Obviously I'll be spending Sunday with Nick and then I'm hanging out with my mom and dad on Monday - yay!

Hope that everyone has a lovely weekend!

image: WeHeartIt

My farm box

Today I got my first delivery of my weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture) box! It is a box full of organic fruits and vegetables that come from a local farm called Full Circle Farm.

One of my 2010 goals was to eat locally and sustainably, and this is a perfect way to do it. I love going to our Saturday farmers market, but sometimes its hard to fit into my morning schedule. This CSA box is packaged and delivered to a fitness center literally right down the street from me, so convenient!

I'm so excited to cook and enjoy all my lovely organic produce and to experiment with my cooking and foods I've never even heard of before (I had to Bing what a "sun choke" was!)

My favorite author and food activist Michael Pollan would be proud!

Winter vegetable: kale

Kale is one of those amazing super foods loaded with nutrients that I am trying to eat more often. Yesterday our work had a nutritionist/cook come talk to us and she showed us this easy and delicious kale salad recipe originally from Gourmet Magazine that can also be found here.

I've never been much of a fan of raw kale, but I am telling you, this is so good and nutritious! And I always seem to lack on my veggie intake during the winter, so I'm going to try to incorporate this into my diet more often.

• 3/4 to 1 pound lacinato kale (also called Tuscan kale) or tender regular kale, stems and center ribs discarded
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces coarsely grated ricotta salata (1 cup)

Working in batches, cut kale crosswise into very thin slices.
Whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined well.
Toss kale and ricotta salata in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat well, then season with salt and pepper.

image

One thing a day

This past weekend Nick and I went on a couples retreat for engaged Christian couples. We had a really good time and met some fun people as well.

One of the things that randomly came up in conversation was getting rid of some of the "clutter" in our lives. Neither Nick or I are reallylike having a lot of "stuff" (minus kitchen/cooking related things for me), but it seems recently we've been accumulating more stuff than we need.

So Nick and I have decided we are going to start getting rid of (hopefully donating) one thing a day. I think it will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to simplifying things! Wish us luck!!

image:WeHeartIt