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one dozen tomatoes from the farmers market + 1 tbsp olive oil + few pinches of salt and oregano + 5 hours of roasting in the oven at 200 degrees = the simple pleasure known as slow-roasted tomatoes.
previous plan: make roasted tomato pesto.
current plan: scrap plan of pulling out the food processor. I may dive right into these tomatoes. They've caught me under their spell with their amazing scent. I'm thinking my next sandwich will be phenomenal, without even trying.
There are the bands that you like, the bands that you love and play incessantly on your iPod, and then there are those few bands that touch some emotional nerve when you hear their music or even see their lyrics. For me, one of those bands is most certainly the Smiths. Whenever I hear their music, it takes me right back to memories of being sixteen. And Morrissey's voice has a way of sticking with you in the same way you connect with a favorite comfort food (in my case, homemade pancakes always does the trick.) So I couldn't resist sharing this cross-stitch art by Chez Sucre Chez. I love these pieces. The top embroidery hoop shows one of my favorite lyrics by the Smiths. You can order both from Kimberly's shop of handcrafted goods. And if you fell for the Smiths back in the day, here's a little flashback for your hump day.
If you were to come over my place for lunch, (I'm making corn and bean salsa dip!), you'd see frameless art leaning against the walls and stacks of empty frames in my office. Everywhere. While the apartment creeps towards being almost, kinda, mostly done (except for a couple major projects spinning in my head, of course), the prints and photographs meant for the walls have sat on the floor looking rather abandoned. I'm quite decisive in most areas of my life, but it seems that I'm the most non-committal person when it comes to hanging wall art. And I've fallen out of love with some of our frames. Too deep. Too cheap looking (the decorating trick of spray painting your frames all one color really looks best on wood frames — not the cheapie metal frames you find at Bed Bath & Beyond type places.) And I have white frames that look to have yellowed over time (how does that even happen?!). I've been feeling a bit like I need one of those HGTV personalities to come over and shake me into making a plan already.
I've been completely stuck on these two companies through weeks of my wall art paralysis: Plywerk and ReFrame. I keep circling back to their sites, and I've fallen for their wooden glassless frames. Plywerk's blank panels are made from sustainably harvested wood (with a keyhole in back), and you can order yours with a pre-applied pH neutral adhesive. The photo above makes me want to do an entire wall of Plywerk, but instead I want to mix in Plywerk panels with the frames that I already own. You can even order custom sizes with Plywerk.
I also love the concept of ReFrame, that I discovered via A Cup of Jo. I have two prints that would be a perfect fit for this simple concept. I wish we had some cool band poster, like one from Poster Cabaret, to put inside one of these frames. (But first, I need to frame the art I do have!)
Both Plywerk and ReFrame are glassless frames. So yes, a spot in the bathroom or next to your grease-spattering stove would be a very bad idea. And you wouldn't want to hang grandma's antique print inside a glassless frame, either. But I love how both are simple solutions if you're looking to get your art up on the walls in a stylish way and don't have $300 to lay down for each framed print. Affordable art is everywhere, so it's nice to see an affordable framing option to pair up with your $25 print. I'm relieved to be on my way to a solution, as my home office has begun to look like the land of frame misfits. And I'm most excited to enjoy seeing art on my walls, sometime soon.
Today I have a treat to share with you: an inspiring wedding done on a budget with so many amazing, memorable details. Even if you're not planning a wedding, I think their idea of creating a candy store of sweets would be so fun for any party (wait until you see!). The super cute couple you see above: meet Jessica and Matt. Jessica's sister, Liz, is one of my favorite people in the world. And so over time, I've gotten to know Jessica from family hikes through Big Sur, Liz's wedding, and visits to Seattle, the lovely laid-back city where Liz and Jessica both live. Jess and Matt got married in Seattle, too. From the typewriter guest book to the 100-year-old doors turned into a chuppah, I think this wedding is so one-of-a-kind cool. Here's Jessica on how they pulled together their big day (along with a few notes from me):
table numbers: For our tables numbers (see above), we came up with a timeline of our relationship, and chose one word to represent each event (meet, date, kiss, etc). Then we picked a simple image to represent each one. Our friend's friends are amazing artists and run a rad event planning company called the Adventure School. They're just getting started in weddings, so they were super reasonable. We gave them our concept, and they developed the decorations. The table number boxes above the table are basically made using the cheapest plywood you can buy that's cut and nailed into boxes. They painted the wood with house paint and then put the number on one side, the word on another, and the image on the third, and hung the table number boxes from the rafters over each table. Our space had really tall ceilings, so the table number decorations helped fill up the vertical space, and they looked super cool. And we printed the timeline in our program with a little explanation for each word. It was neat because family members and parents' friends who didn't know us very well got to see a condensed version of our love story.
candy store table for favors + seating cards: We made lollipops using a Martha Stewart recipe. Basically you just need a candy thermometer, and it is otherwise pretty simple and easy. A few tips: It's best to make the lollipops in batches the size of the Martha recipe, because otherwise the candy gets hard before you can pour it all out into lollies. And it takes longer than her recipe says it does for the candy to get all the way up to "hard crack" temperature — probably closer to 15-20 minutes. You have to wait for the candy to reach that temperature, otherwise they get all gooey.
We had so much fun making them together. We just went to the candy store and chose all sorts of stuff to stick in them — jelly beans, sprinkles, ju-jus, good n' plenties, whatever. People loved them, they did double-duty as favors and seating cards, and it cost almost nothing to make (just sugar, corn syrup, and candy.) And they looked really pretty. We ordered the cellophane wrappers online at one of the bazillion places that sell candy supplies. I bought all the jars and dishes at Goodwill for super cheap.
(And check out how the lollipops are propped up in scraps of wood from the table number boxes — looks fantastic and totally ties together the look!)
Another view of the amazing table numbers — I think this concept works so perfectly in the loft space that Jessica and Matt chose for their wedding.
Look at that cake!!! The fresh flowers are gorgeous and it just looks delicious. Wow.
Jess said their cake was made by Monkey Tree Bakery on Vashon Island: "They are so off the grid they don't even have a website. Best. Cake. Ever."
guest book: We borrowed a friend's old typewriter, made a roll of paper, and asked our guests to type on it for our guest book. Everybody thought it was super neat, and we got some really funny and memorable messages. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a roll of paper that is 8.5 inches wide. Other than fax paper (which doesn't work for typing) and rolls of dot matrix printer paper (which has those perforated tabs down the sides), it doesn't exist at your usual office or art supply store. So we made our own roll of paper by buying a roll of white butcher paper and using a power saw to cut it to size! (This was our event planner's idea.) We put out family wedding photos on the same table to dress it up.
Who knew it's so hard to find a roll of paper! Thanks for the tip, Jessica, as I want to steal this idea for a party at our apartment.
Jessica also shared that they had a camera hooked up to a projector at their wedding, and people passed the camera around and took photos, which were then projected onto the screen in real time. Jess and Matt got a disk of the photos at the end, which must be an incredible memento. A big thank you to Jessica and Matt for sharing their photos, ideas, and tips learned from their wedding!! I think they really thought outside of the box with their decorations (no pun intended!). Jessica and Matt, I wish you guys so much love and happiness — it's clear you two put your heart into your wedding. I am blown away by all the sweet details.
Details on the vendors they used in Seattle:
+ All of the fantastic photography is by Starr Samuelson.
+ Event planners: the Adventure School.
+ Caterer: Raving Radish (Jess said they were amazing, too.)
+ Flowers by Floressence.
+ Cake by Monkey Tree Bakery on Vashon Island.
Congratulations Jessica + Matt!
xo Jen
The woodland motif has been around a while — this look has pretty much circled the globe, orbited the moon, and is now hovering in space over some Anthropologie headquarters. But I still love seeing the birds, the birch, the moss, the faux bois. I can't help it. In small doses, I think the woodland trend can stick around as a classic, much like how a few whimsical floral patterns in your wardrobe will never go out of style. And I love seeing how designers are taking the woodland idea up a notch, because it's always harder to create something fresh when people have already seen a zillion things with birds and owls. Here are a few favorites.
Dutch Door Press has designed a line of letterpress 5x7 prints called birds & blooms of the 50 states. It's my favorite design from their collection, for sure. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Texas are the newest editions. I can't wait for Maine to come out, and I love the New York print below. I also think these would make a sweet favor idea if you're planning a wedding in a state you love.
And I'm stuck on the idea of a terrarium. Maybe two. Here's a secret garden.
Dan and I are going to see Bright Star tonight. I secretly love period films with all the amazing clothes, and I'm excited to hear Keats' poetry weaved into the movie. Parts of the trailer feel a bit like a woodland fantasy to me, too. Maybe it's the talk of butterflies and scenes of them running off into the forest together.
Have a fun fall weekend!
I've talked about starting to menu plan our dinners as many times as I've resolved to stop stuffing receipts into my mess of a wallet. Every week I find myself in the same what-to-make-for-dinner pickle and make the same resolution. I've had a few failed attempts over the last couple of years, which undoubtedly shook my confidence. My former version of meal planning consisted of spending a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon perusing through my cookbooks (many of my favorites have rather complex 12+ ingredient recipes alongside the gorgeous photography.) By the time I'd picked the recipes, jotted down a list of all the ingredients, and decided on a schedule, I was already exhausted. And I must have missed the notice that my name is Jen, not Giada — and a homemade bolognese sauce on a weekday is not a smart move if you're looking to eat dinner before 10pm. So my meal plans would typically fall apart by day 3, and the end of the week saw me tossing fresh produce that had turned rotten. I think I forgot to mention how every magazine pantry feature — with a handy worksheet for menu planning — has not worked for me, because I don't eat chicken, and chicken's always on the menu.
And then every once in a long while, you make a small shift that feels monumental. That's what happened to me on Monday. Dan and I were talking about our month of October. It quickly became apparent that we have an intense month ahead, filled with a growing mountain of commitments that will be working against leisurely weekday evenings. There will be no wiggle time for my current cop-out version of meal planning (decide what I'm going to make in the morning and pick up groceries right before I cook.) Something clicked. Simplify, Jen.
Just like that, I jotted down a list of 5 simple recipes that I've made before and we've both liked. I put the fish dish at the front of the week and put the (rather short) list of ingredients in my shopping cart on Fresh Direct. Tuesday at 6pm, our food arrived, and I made my favorite salmon dish that night. It's working. And I also imposed a no-new-recipes rule for the month. I have a tendency to daydream about cooking, because I do love to cook. But sometimes you need to get down to business and just make a meal that fills you, is semi-nutritious, and reduces the stress of your evening with its simplicity. All I can say is thank god for Molly Wizenberg, because her recipes from A Homemade Life are a majority of my menu plan!
my menu for the week:
+ Tuesday: cider-glazed salmon (from A Homemade Life) with lemon spaghetti (from Giada's Everyday Italian, but this pasta dish is actually fast since the no-cook lemon sauce is simple)
+ Wednesday: I had a dinner out with friends, so Dan was on his own (Annie's mac + cheese and a sandwich)
+ Thursday: Italian grotto eggs from A Homemade Life with my twist. I add in a fresh baguette that I've topped with olive oil and parmesan cheese and warmed in the oven. We dip the bread in a little tomato sauce (from a jar) and pair it with Molly's yummy eggs. Breakfast for dinner is so satisfying.
Since that egg meal takes all of 10 minutes to make, I'm going to make a simple soup at the same time. I also love the tomato soup with two fennels from A Homemade Life. This will be my lunch for the end of the week and deal with the hunger cravings that can easily move a Saturday (around noon) to a cranky place. Dan loves grilled cheese paired with the tomato soup, and I prefer a piece of bread smeared with goat cheese to dunk in my soup.
+ Friday: shrimp pad thai from the Everday Food: Great Food Fast cookbook. I've made this once before and it's easy — and I now have all the unusual ingredients (like the tomato-based chili sauce) so my shopping list ingredients were simply frozen shrimp, bean sprouts, and rice-stick noodles.
+ Saturday and Sunday lunch: leftover tomato soup + grilled cheese
I guess we like cheese!
Why it has taken me this long to get what weekly meal planning is supposed to look like is beyond me — maybe I can break out of my receipt-stuffing rut, too. Hopefully by next week's menu, our chalkboard will be hung up in the kitchen. I plan to write out our menu, just like a restaurant, and note the snacks we have in (since we have a tendency to forget what food we have in, and then our snacks get lost in the back abyss of the refrigerator.) This adorable vintage chalkboard, above, is from Mechanical Stag's shop. It looks like it needs a menu.
If you have any tips or stories from your own meal planning, I'd love to hear — just leave a comment below. My current conundrum is how to keep it simple but add in some more vegetables + sides. Thanks!
I pity the poor kid who wound up sitting next to David Stark in some fifth grade art class. I mean really, talk about comparing yourself to your peers when you're sharing pastels with someone who turns cardboard into cuckoo clocks. David Stark amazes me yet again, and while I know it's too early to be thinking holiday, I just couldn't resist sharing these images of what's in store. David has designed a holiday line for West Elm (coming into stores really soon), which rifts on the concept of a more natural noel. I absolutely love it — thank you, West Elm and David Stark, for a quieter alternative to the red, green, and tinsel craze of standard holiday decorations. Those twine stars are calling my name!
