Red Up the House

Ratatouille

Um Um Um, this was my dinner last night and lunch today. It will be my dinner tonight, and probably my lunch tomorrow. Yes, all these veggies just for me. Huz is spending the summer in Colorado for an internship in the court system :( It’s a great opportunity and a he’s gaining a lot of needed experience but it’s super hard to be apart. It’s not all bad - there is a lot of iMessaging, gchatting, and FaceTiming, and I get to go out there for two weeks in June and a long weekend in July. We’ll survive :) Anyway, this post is about the food, not my love life, ha!

I had never made Ratatouille before but it seemed pretty simple and I had all of the ingredients in my recent CSA box from Hollygrove Market and Farm, which btw is a great investment if you live in the area. I modified the recipes I read and made up my own:

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper

Thyme (I used dried but I’m sure fresh would be better)

Fresh Basil

5 cloves of Garlic (I can’t get enough)

1 Eggplant

1 Yellow Squash

1 Zucchini

1 Green Pepper

1/2 cup Sauteed Mushrooms

Directions:

Sauté your mushrooms if you haven’t already.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Coarsely dice your eggplant, squash, and zucchini into large cubes.

Slice your pepper

Chop your basil.

Slice your garlic.

Drizzle the bottom of a 9x13 pan with olive oil.

Empty one can of Italian Style Diced Tomatoes into the pan.

Add all other veggies.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and plenty of thyme.

Drizzle with more olive oil (a little more than 1Tbs).

Stir it up and bake for 20 minutes.

Stir it up and bake for another 20 minutes.

Et voilà!

I topped mine with Parmesan and it was delicious!

Spring has SPRUNG

and is almost over. This little blog/tumblr (idk even what to call it) got no love from me this spring. Maybe I’ll get back into it, maybe not. These beautiful tulips have long been gone but were such a lovely way to celebrate the season. It’s unusually slow at work today so this is how I’m filling my time, well this and The Paris Wife - a sweet novel by Paula McLain. It’s about Hadley Hemingway’s experience with her huz, Ernest, in the City of Lights during the twenties - très charmant!

DIY Photo Art

I’m proud to say this beauty is now hanging in our bedroom. It makes me so happy every time I glance at it. Horses are such noble animals - strong and elegant. I’ve always loved them (Seabiscuit is one of my all time favorite movies) and recently I’ve been adoring them even more. We often see them trotting around our area, as we live near Cascade Stables at Audubon Park. In my opinion they were the stars of all of the Mardi Gras parades :) Speaking of horses, have you seen the HBO series, Luck? I’ve only seen the first episode so far. Sadly, it’s been canceled due to the deaths of three horses but I absolutely refuse to believe it was because of inhumane or harsh treatment, something else had to be going on.

This was in a very small sense a DIY project.

DIY as in I purchased and downloaded a high resolution photo from Can Stock Photo.

DIY as in I sent that photo to Online Poster Printing to be made into a 36x24 poster.

DIY as in I then mounted that poster on a canvas purchased at Michaels, using photo mounting spray.

Voilà! Did it myself :)

Thrifted Pleated Skirt

I purchased this skirt at the one and only thrift store I ever found while living in Seoul last year. Now that I think about it, it was probably exactly a year ago :) I just imagine a sweet older woman giving it away due to the tiny little stain between one of the pleats (no one will ever notice it). Well, I’m so happy she did - pleats are still in, right?

Robin Egg Blue Pedi

I got this lovely pedicure with my sisters-in-law last week. We were celebrating my little sis-in-law’s 20th birthday! Aw, I remember when she was 11 and pedicures were the last thing she wanted to do.

It was absolutely glorious being back in Colorado. The weather was perfect, although everything was very brown compared to NOLA. My MIL’s 50th birthday party was a great success! She was very loved and extremely gracious.

I’m happy to be back to work but also a little discouraged…I caught up on a week’s worth of work and completed my tasks for today all before noon. Grrr, my job isn’t challenging in any way. If nothing arises to complete this afternoon, I will spend the time researching my dream job :)

DIY Piñata

My MIL turns 50 next week! I’m so excited to celebrate her life with the rest of the family - she’s truly an amazing woman and deserves a huge shin dig!

Since I can’t be there to help setup/decorate (we’re driving 22 hours straight from NOLA to CO to get to this par-tay and will arrive a few hours before it starts!), I decided to contribute these pinatas. You may have seen the tutorial here. Jordan Ferney sure does know how to throw a party :)

Anyway, the pinatas were super easy. I followed the tutorial pretty closely, however huz made the hanging loops and I’m not sure exactly how. Be ware - the decorating does take a long time. I used the hot glue gone to attach all the crepe paper frills - we’re talking eight hours of work. I got a little lazy at the end but hopefully you can’t tell.

They’re filled pretty traditionally - CANDY! I also added a few Mardi Gras beads and some adult beverages ;)

Estee Lauder Idealist

I love all things Estee Lauder, especially my most recent purchase - Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher. It’s true, I have huge pores - a burden that I have carried with me since I was the only girl in 5th grade who broke out :( I’m still dealing with it at 27 but it’s not so bad now that I have the Idealist serum. It instantly reduces the appearance of pores and gradually reduces their size over a few weeks. I’ve definitely noticed positive results. Plus, it smells so good and makes your skin feel so soft.

Emily, from Cupcakes and Cashmere, also loves Estee Lauder products and is a Guest Blogger/Spokeswoman. She is so cute and quite the fashionista :) See her Estee posts here.

Oscar Sweets

My dear friend hosted an Academy Awards viewing party on Sunday night - ladies only. We critiqued the dresses and ate our little hearts out. I contributed these cute little Oscar cookies. I had a grandiose plan of propping them atop brownies so they looked like the real statue, but alas, this did not work out so well. They were too heavy for the toothpick I was using to prop them up. More planning needed for next year.

I used a gingerbread man cooking cutter and bent it into the Oscar mold. For the frosting, I just used whipped cream cheese frosting and then brushed it with gold edible powder. Again, with more planning, I’m sure you could make a gold frosting.