36

36 days left!

So many little things left to do. But it's nice to know that they are just little things.

Everyone says their wedding day is the biggest day of their life but I'm more excited to come home after the honeymoon and continue our lives together. 

Hopefully I'll have time this summer to keep updating this blog. School has been crazy town and I'm glad to have a few months to settle in to married life before it all begins again.

I'm not big on showing/telling people all the little details of our wedding. I mean, I feel most people couldn't care less what flowers you chose, what color the linens are... etc. 

But this is one thing I want to share. I love pink peonies. Though pink is not even one of our wedding colors, I just had to choose it. It was one of the first things I decided on when we started planning our wedding. :) Hope it's not super heavy!

A rabbit, a pig, a cat, and a girl...

Among my 5,004 hobbies, I used to like to make stuffed animals out of socks. Yup, socks. Clean/new socks!

Here's the first one I ever made. A little bunny complete with a bunny tail and a heart-shaped belly button. I didn't really know what I was doing which explains why she has abnormal arms and lopsided eyes. (Shh... don't tell her!)

Here's Mr. Piggy. Isn't he so cute? I just love his little beady eyes.

He is pondering life. Actually, he just wanted me to get his good side.

This little kitty I made out of argyle socks. She used to have a name... one of my kindergarten students named her. But I forgot what. Oops!

Oops this picture is a little underexposed for my taste.

This one is still a work in progress. I realize she may be creepy to some, but she reminds me of a doll I had as a kid, and that makes me happy :)

My buttons also make me so happy!

Turkey and Pancetta Meatballs, Pasta with Mint Pesto and Fava

It's been a while since I've cooked anything. I mean really cooked. Sandwiches and ready-made salads don't count! The pictures don't do this pasta and meatballs and justice. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home. I love this cookbook. I know I've mentioned it several times but everything that I've cooked from it is just so yummy and relatively easy.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
Pasta with Mint Pesto and Fava:
1 cup shelled fresh fava beans
1/2 cup roasted unsalted almonds
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup pecorino (I gave my cheese grater to my sister so I used pre-grated parmesan)
1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups fresh mint
12 oz capellini
s&p

Turkey and Pancetta Meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey (I used white meat)
1 oz thinly sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 large whole egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
olive oil
s&p

Boil some water in a small pot. Blanch the fava beans until bright green and tender. Remove from heat and run under cold water. Next, remove the beans from the skins. (Be careful when peeling not to break the beans inside!) Set aside.

Next, in a food processor, pulse the almonds with the garlic until coarsely ground. Add the olive oil and cheese and process to a coarse paste. Leave this in the food processor because you'll work on it again.

Next, mix the turkey, pancetta, garlic, bread crumbs, and onions. Season with s&p. Add the egg, sage, and zest. Mix thoroughly and then form the mixture into meatballs.

Start boiling water for pasta.

Heat a large skillet over medium high. Add oil. Add the meatballs to the skillet and cook thoroughly (takes about 7-10 minutes)

Add your noodles to the pasta when the water boils. Capellini cooks fairly quickly so be careful not to over cook and end up with smushy noodles. Yuck. When the noodles are done, drain and transfer a large mixing bowl.

Next, add the mint to the almond/garlic/cheese mixture and pulse until coarsely chopped. If it's not really pulsing, stir around with a spoon and try again. The reason you should leave this last is because the green leaves will turn brown if made in advance. Gross. Another way to avoid this is to top the pesto with olive oil... but that just seems like a lot of oil.

Add the pesto and beans to the noodles and mix well. Serve with meatballs and top with additional cheese and lemon juice if you'd like.

the munchkins are coming!

the munchkins are coming to visit this weekend...

yay :)

Banberry Pie

I LOVE Polly's banberry pie. Anyone else feel the same way? Anyone? Somebody? Anybody? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?

This is, I swear to you, the easiest pie you will ever bake. In fact, it requires no baking. Yes, I could've made everything from scratch. But sometimes, a girl just wants simplicity. aka she wants to be lazy. And by she, I mean me. And by me, I mean I.

The best part is? You don't have to tell people that it was easy. Oh. So maybe I should've lied and said I made it all from scratch. Oh well! Too late for that.

Ingredients:

1. 9" graham cracker crust

2. 2-3 bananas

3. Instant vanilla pudding

4. Instant strawberry jello

5. Cornstarch

6. Water

7. Sugar

8. Heavy whipping cream

9. Strawberries (washed and ... de-stemmed? de-leaved?)

Slice bananas and layer at the bottom of the pie tin. Next, follow the instructions on the instant vanilla pudding (I think all you need to do is add milk. I did a mix of milk and heavy whipping cream) Pour the pudding over the bananas. Next, add the strawberries.

In a saucepan, mix 1 cup sugar and 3 tbsp cornstarch. Add 1 cup of water and allow to simmer, stirring constantly. When it thickens, add a bit of jello powder until you get the color you want. HOWEVER, if you add too much, your glaze will be the consistency of jello. So, if you'd like, you can add a teensy bit of jello for taste and then add red food coloring. Pour it over the strawberries. WARNING: if you stop stirring, or wait too long, the glaze will thicken and then you'll be sad. Why? Because you have to do it again. So be quick!

Lastly, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Pipe around the edges of the pie. I didn't add sugar to the whipped cream because the glaze and pudding are pretty sweet. However, if you like super sweet things, you'll have to sift powdered sugar and add it to your cream. I don't recommend this unless you like diabetes and cavities. =)

If you want to make a homemade crust, mix about 1.5-2 cups of graham cracker crumbs with 6 tbsp of melted butter. You can also add about 1/4 cup sugar if you'd like. Press to the bottom and sides of a pie tin. Bake at 350 for 7-10 min.

If you want to make homemade pudding, then you're just an overachiever.

Donkatsu à la Hurry Curry

Hi. I'm sorry about the super blurry pictures. Though I've had my camera for several years and the lens for just about as long... I still don't know how to use it. Hee hee. One day, my sister wanted to make donkatsu. And she did. And it was good. The next day, Andrew was coming to visit so I decided to make some for him as well. So I did. And it was good. The difference was that I finished it off in the oven because I'm afraid of deep frying things. Really, I am.

Here's what you do:

1. Go to the market and ask the butcher for some boneless pork chops. If they're too thick (which they will be), ask him to halve and flatten them for you.

2. Make some curry.

3. Make some rice.

4. Take out the tenderloin. Wait. I mean pork chops. Put a layer of saran wrap over them, use the meat tenderizer and further flatten them. Why? Because I said so. Pat them dry with a paper towel and season with s&p.

5. Similar to this, you're going to have 3 different plates/saucers/whatever of stuff. The first will have flour, the second eggs, and the third with panko and whatever seasoning you want. (S&P, onion/garlic powder, paprika... whatever.)

6. Heat up a skillet and melt some butter on it. Add some oil as well. Fry both sides of your donkatsu until it's nice and brown. Maybe 3-5 minutes on both sides.

7. Oh, I forgot to tell you. You should've preheated your oven to 350.

8. Place the donkatsu on a baking sheet and bake until cooked all the way through. (About 20-25 min)

9. Plate with rice and curry. And the red stuff if you have it.

If you don't like curry, serve with some donkatsu sauce. But then don't forget the chopped cabbage with thousand island dressing! (That's Korean style)

Quinoa, Pea, and Mint Salad

Have I mentioned how much I love this salad? I know I posted it before. It goes well with everything. The mint makes it taste fresh and as a plus, quinoa is really good for you. I'm kind of weird about mint. For instance, I can't drink mojitos bc I feel like I'm drinking toothpaste water. But this is goooood. Trust me!

I got this from Martha Stewart. I LOVE her cookbook Dinner at Home. Everything I've tried in it thus far has been excellent.

Here's the recipe for this:

2 cups Chicken stock

1 cup White Quinoa, rinsed

1 cups Shelled fresh /frozen peas (unthawed if frozen)

3 tbsp EVOO

3 tbsp Fresh mint leaves

Salt and Pepper

Bring stock and quinoa to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook 10 min. Add peas. Cook until quinoa has absorbed the liquid (about 5 min). Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 min.

Season with s&p, then add oil. Let cool about 5 min before stirring in the mint. Enjoy!