January 31, 2012

Sesame Spaghetti Squash Noodles and Roasted Shrimp

Coming across this recipe was really exciting for us.  Usually when you see spaghetti squash noodles subbing for pasta its an Italian dish and this Asian flare was right up our alley. 


Ingredients For the "Noodles":
1 Large Squash
4 Tablespoons Toasted Sesame Oil
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (we used low sodium)
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
pinch of Ground Ginger
pinch of Garlic Powder
4 Tablespoons toasted Sesame Seeds
1/2 cup diced Green Onions
1/2 cup fresh Edamame
Sriracha Sauce (optional) 

Ingredients For the Roasted Shrimp:
1 package of De-veined Raw Frozen Shrimp (defrost)
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, halved the squash and scoop out seeds, place into a dish and bake for about 1 hour depending on the size of your squash, it should be soft and parts easily when poked with a fork. 
2. While cooking combine sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic powder, and sesame seeds in a small bowl and let the flavors marry.
3. When squash is tender let cool.
4. Meanwhile, on a foiled baking sheet lay out defrosted and peeled shrimp, drizzle oil evenly and season well with salt and pepper, place in oven and watch for shrimp to turn a perfect pink color about 10 mins.
5. After squash is cooled fork out the squash until all the stringy spaghetti is removed from skin.
6. Toss sauce with "noodles", and gently fold in edamame and green onions. 
7. Top with roasted shrimp and a few squirts of Siracha.

Enjoy!



-Megan

January 27, 2012

Book Club- First Attempt

So we started a book club.... how "adult" of us right? (You would think at 25, we would do more "adult" things). Well we started with a classic, The Great Gatsby, and it was somewhat of a success. Successful in the fact that we ate, drank and talked girl talk all night. Not so successful in the fact that we didn't even utter the word "Gatsby" once....whoooops! I guess we spent too much time talking and writing papers about it in High School.

We had some great apps, I made Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese bread, and it was delicious, and so easy! Recipe HERE.

We decided our next book would be something fun and easy to read in a month. We went with....


Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, by Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly on "The Office", and also co-produces and writes for the show. So it has to be funny, right? Well I just read the first few pages and it's hilarious!

We will try to share our book club reads each month, in case you are in search of a good book. Stay tuned to hear about Mindy Kaling's book.

-Whitney

January 25, 2012

Thought Catalog- 5 Things Men Are Not Allowed To Wear

The Thought Catalog never ceases to amuse me with their hilarious and sometimes controversial opinions. This article, "5 Things Men Are Not Allowed To Wear", was one that I had to share. The writer's explanations are even better than her list.....

1. A Short-Sleeved Button Down Shirt

2. Running Shoes In Any Context Other Than Running

3. Deep V-Neck T-Shirt

4. Cargo Pants/Shorts

5. Tribal Necklaces

I think the tribal necklace is my number 1 no-no on this list! What's your number 1?

Read the full article here
Follow Thought Catalog on Twitter

A Chemist's Chandelier

Pani Jurek , is the master-mind behind this Chandelier of test tubes and I just love the idea of this piece.    Inspired by chemistry, Pani inserts circular plywood bands with a collection of test tubes.  Pani Jurek was inspired by the Polish scientist, Maria Sklodowska-Curie, who won the coveted Nobel Prize in Chemistry the year of 1911, she was the first woman to win this prize. 

Maria SC...


made from chemistry test tubes set in two plywood bands,


classic yet innovative,


experimental, filling tubes with different color liquids


romantic, freshly cut flowers.

Find out more about Pani Jurek on FACEBOOK
and shop her ETSY









January 24, 2012

Can't Get Enough

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae-  "We are Young"

This song has been on repeat for the past few days, and I just can't get enough.

-Whitney

January 23, 2012

Patterns From Above

WOW! How cool is this aerial imagery, by artist couple Sara Hicks and Brent Yaggi!

 San Antonio, TX

 Salt Lake City, UT

 Caveman Ranch, UT

 Yellowstone, WY

unknown

Check out Sarah and Brent's Web site.

DIY Painted Moccasins


I found this DIY tutorial at honestly...WTF and new that i had to try it. I already own moccasins, and they were becoming kind of boring to me, so why not spice them up!

All you need are your moccasins, some fabric paint (I used Tulip Soft Fabric Paint), and a brush (es).

Untie your moccasins, pull out the string from the fringe and tuck it all inside of your shoe. 

I first used a very fine brush as well as a larger one. I used the fine brush to outline the area i wanted to paint (right along the stitching of the moccasins), then used the larger brush to fill it in.
I let it dry for a few minutes, and painted another coat. You can do as many coats as you would like, 2 was plenty for me.
I let them dry over night before I retied the fringe on.

This was the perfect project to bring new life to my tired and plain mocs.

-Whitney


 

January 17, 2012

Sending our love

Sorry readers for the lack of posts but we are all on mini-vacations! We are sending our love though, some of us from the beach and some of us from the snowy mountains. 

love from the Dominican

love from Vail and Beaver Creek


January 9, 2012

Tangerine Tango


Pantone's color of the year for 2012 is called "Tangerine Tango". What a great color, so bright and cheery! You could make some serious statements with this color, both in your decorating and your wardrobe! Here are a few of our favorite Tangerine Tango ideas for your closet and your home:




Can't wait to see this color popping up throughout 2012!

-Whitney & Megan

January 6, 2012

Bubbly Babycakes

I got a very fun new kitchen tool for Christmas this year and I just couldn't wait to put it to use. 

via


New Years Eve I was in charge of making a dessert for our Progressive Party, and so only one thing came to mind... Babycakes (and champagne)

I came across the most perfect batter recipe...


Champagne Cupcake Batter
1 box Super Moise White Cake Mix
1 1/4 cup Champagne
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
3 egg whites


After cakes cooled we used a homemade double-boiler and melted white candy melts bought at Michael's


We also found festive sprinkles in both gold and silver our color combo for the evening.  Rolling each Babycake in sprinkles started out pretty complicated, once we discovered a method, we became a Babycake Making Factory!

Our method was plopping the cake in the melted chocolate and using two spoons to evenly distribute the melted goodness, after that either gold or silver (sometimes both) sprinkles were sprinkled all over the sticky babycake.  We then let them cool on parchment paper. 


These cakes turned out so moist from the simple addition of the bubbly!
How festive. 



-Megan

 

January 4, 2012

NYE Progressive Party Success

Well our NYE progressive party was a success! We went a tad overboard on the decorations and food, but hey it was New Years Eve, and we found way too many cute gold and silver decorations and party favors! Here are some pics of our party...
We found a free print out online of this cute HAPPY NEW YEAR banner, that we hung with some silver ribbon. Other decorations we found at US Toy and Party Warehouse. The silver and gold glittered cake balls were a huge hit! (tutorial coming soon).

We made these awesome glittered star headbands ourselves, after seeing this one on etsy for $75!! All we needed was glitter foam sheets  (we found it at Michael's), ribbon, and hot glue! Cut out star shapes (we did 5 per headband), and hot glue each one to your ribbon, leaving enough room on each end to tie the ribbon in a bow on the back of your head! It took us about 15 minutes, and cost about $3.

January 3, 2012

New Year, New Calendar

Happy New Year! I hope that you have started off 2012 on the right foot! Have you set your new year's resolution? Or maybe done some Winter cleaning/organizing? One of my favorite parts of starting a new year is picking out a new calendar!
Here are some cute 2012 calendars that I have found floating around the Internet...


via  







-Whitney